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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27342451">Whiskey Lullaby</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmegirl827/pseuds/Emmegirl827'>Emmegirl827</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Families of Choice, First Love, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Inspired by Music, Slow Burn, Stranger Things 2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:40:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27342451</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emmegirl827/pseuds/Emmegirl827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Amelia Henderson moved to Hawkins with her cousin and aunt, she never expected life to be so interesting away from Chicago.  She had to deal with her friend's brother going missing, battling a monster from another dimension, recovering from an injury sustained in that battle, and now she has to deal with this annoying new student who comes from California, thinks he is so cool, and just happens to be in every single one of her classes.   Can this year get any crazier?  </p><p>Rated Mature for now, but if things get spicy I'll up the rating.  Please like and comment if you are enjoying yourself!  I haven't written anything like this in almost 20 years, so feedback is love!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s), Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue: Meet Ami</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Rated Mature for now, but if things get spicy I'll up the rating.  Please like and comment if you are enjoying yourself!  I haven't written anything like this in almost 20 years, so feedback is love!  I also take no ownership of these characters or any other media I reference in this story.   I love just creating my own ideas based on works that already exist.  This is all meant for fun!  Title and some story points based on the amazing Brad Paisley song Whiskey Lullaby.  Listen to it.  It is amazing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Whiskey Lullaby </p>
<p>Prologue: Meet Ami </p>
<p>Amelia “Ami’ Henderson came to Hawkins with her cousin Dustin and her Aunt Claudia when they moved there in 1979.   Dustin immediately made friends with his now besties Will Byers, Michael Wheeler, and Lucas Sinclair.  She didn’t make friends right away, but her and Jonathan Byers clicked really well.  They both loved the arts.  Jonathan preferred his Photography and Ami was very musical.  </p>
<p>Both of Ami’s parents were musical, her mother being a singer, and her father being a musician who played multiple instruments.  Amelia grew up in Chicago where her parents taught voice and instrument lessons respectively.   She grew up loving the arts but was most passionate about her acoustic guitar, which is all she had left of her old life except for a few pictures and all her memories.   </p>
<p>Last year when William Byers went missing, the world was literally turned upside down.   It was an emotional rollercoaster from finding out Will was missing, Barb going missing, Will being found dead, finding out her cousin and his friends were hiding a little girl with super powers, and getting Will back.  When Jonathan and Nancy decided to go to the Byers house for the final stand with the Demogorgon, and Joyce and Hopper were at the Lab trying to find Will, Amelia decided to stay behind with the kids so they weren't alone. </p>
<p>Amelia had instantly felt for Eleven.  The poor girl was traumatized on an epic scale.  In the little time she got to know her, they only scratched the surface of the things that child was put through.  Amelia didn’t have the easiest life, but it was nothing compared to the torture poor Eleven was put through at the hands of those sick bastards from the lab.  When Brenner stormed in with all his lackeys to try and take Eleven back to the lab, Amelia stood in the way with the boys, Eleven tucked behind her.   </p>
<p>After Eleven stood up to Brenner and all of his goons by making them bleed from the eyes, Ami carried an almost unconscious Eleven into one of the Science Lab rooms.  They could all hear the Demogorgon prowling outside the door looking for them.  Amelia left the kids to hide in the back corner, while she stood guard with her back to the door.   When the Demogorgon busted down the door, he knocked Ami down onto her stomach, and attacked her back.   All she could do was scream and try to fight it away as the open petal mouth ripped the skin of her upper back to shreds.   Ami passed out from pain.  When she came to, she was already in the hospital, being told from a tearful Dustin that she was okay and that they found Will, but Eleven sacrificed herself so they could escape.   </p>
<p>It took Ami a long time to heal, she had permanent nerve damage to her left shoulder, and she could no longer play Volleyball, one of the sports she participated in at school.   It was hard for her to play her instruments for a long period of time, and she was still going to Physical Therapy in Chicago every Saturday where they were trying an experimental nerve therapy to relieve some of her pain.  All expenses paid from the government of course.   Most of the time she would take the long bus ride to Chicago since she didn’t drive, and Aunt Claudia worked most weekends as a receptionist at Hawkins Memorial Hospital.  </p>
<p>Ami was brought out of her thoughts by Jonathan honking the horn outside the Henderson house.   It was the day before Halloween 1984.  Dustin as always was already departing on his bicycle.  Ami yelled out to him “Are you sure you don’t want a ride Dustin?”</p>
<p>“Nah, I’m meeting the guys early so we can finalize our plans for Costumes! OH!  By the way, I borrowed 5 dollars out of your bedroom drawer that you don’t think I know you hide money in there for arcade night last night.  Okay bye!” he yelled back as he was riding away.  </p>
<p>“That ass!” Ami seethed as she opened the car door. “Did you hear him?  He stole money from my room!  I swear to God I love him but I will kill him one day.”<br/>
Jonathan chuckled and shook his head.  “Yeah, Will hit me up for 5 bucks too.  I ended up giving it to him.  I’m just so glad he’s back that he can still get away with anything with me.”  </p>
<p>“Softie.”  Amelia responded but started laughing as well.  “Your brother is adorable, Dustin is just a pain in my ass!”   </p>
<p>“You can say what you want but I know you love all those kids or you wouldn’t have done what you did that night” Jonathan fired back.  </p>
<p>“Yeah, you’re right.  Shit I do love those kids.   I just wish he asked!  He knows I’d loan it to him.   Hey!  Did you study for that Chem test today?  I fell asleep with my face smushed into my book.  I hope I ace it.  I need every good grade  to get the hell out of here and into college.”  Amelia signed and leaned her head back on the back of the passenger side of the car.   </p>
<p>:Jonathan replied “We have a Chem test!?”  </p>
<p>Ami burst out laughing.  “I swear to God Jonathan, what would you do without me sometimes!?  I’ll let you borrow my notes at lunch, it should help.  I think I’m going to nail it.”  </p>
<p>“You know I’d wither and die without you Ami.” he sarcastically replied. </p>
<p>“You know you love me!” she retorted.   </p>
<p>They both cracked up laughing and quietly finished the drive to school with the music blasting and them singing along to the mixtapes they shared.  They pulled into their usual spot in the parking lot.  Getting out of the car, Ami noticed Jonathan staring longingly at Steve Harrington’s car where Nancy Wheeler sat helping him with some homework.   </p>
<p>Ami sighed loudly, catching Jonathan’s attention.  “Seriously Jonathan, you need to stop mooning over Nancy Wheeler!  Just tell her how you feel.  You got the balls to fight alongside her against a monster from another dimension, yet you can’t tell her how you really feel?  Did she go back to Steve?  Yes, and that sucks, but you have got to tell her instead of staring at her and following her around like a puppy. I know you don’t see it, but she looks at you too, just not when you are watching her.   For the love of God just talk to her!” </p>
<p>Before her could retort, a loud engine came screeching into the school parking lot.  The blue Camaro halted in one of the spots close to the school.  A fiery redhead that looked about the age of Dustin jumped out of the car, threw her skateboard to the ground and pushed herself over to the middle school.  The boy got out and looked around the lot.  His jeans were so tight they looked like they were painted to his body.  He blew out a breath of cigarette smoke and stubbed the butt out on his shoe.  After getting a look at all the people staring at him, he started walking toward the school with a swagger in his step.  Ami observed that most of the girls in the parking lot were drooling after him as he walked by.  </p>
<p>“Oh wonderful, a new asshole to deal with!” Ami said quietly to Jonathan.  </p>
<p>“You don’t know that, he could be normal.” Jonathan replied</p>
<p>Ami glared at him with a roll of the eyes.  “Nobody who drives a car like that, with those pants, and that hair is trying to blend in and be normal.  He is trying to stand out, and he seems to have the attention of every person in this parking lot.   Come on, we are going to be late.”  </p>
<p>They walked into the school together, passing the main office on the way in.  Billy Hargrove was in there getting his schedule for his first day, and little did Ami Henderson know, they were on a collision course that would send both Ami and Billy into a situation neither of them knew they wanted nor needed.   It is going to be an interesting year.   .</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1: Meeting Billy Hargrove</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Billy and Ami have their first interactions which prove to be interesting but they may come to an understanding when they find their common interest.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>These characters do not belong to me!  All hail the creators for letting me borrow their amazing characters and stories so I can create my ideas.  Have a great day everyone!  Please leave a like or a comment.  Feedback is love!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 1: Meeting Billy Hargrove</p><p>Ami went to her locker to deposit her jacket and backpack.  Ami always wore longer sleeves or a sweater over her undershirt due to the scarring on her back and upper arms.  Nobody really gave her a hard time about it except for Carol.  She was now the captain of the Volleyball team since Ami was injured and unable to play.  She taunted her constantly about how much better the team was now that she was gone.  Ami just let it slide off her back.  She knew what was really important in life since last year, and wasn’t going to waste her time on someone like Carol.   She got out the books she would need for her morning classes and followed Jonathan down the hall to their first period study hall. </p><p>The way classes worked at Hawkins High School was each grade had 3 levels.  There was a super smart course that Nancy, along with all the other super smart kids, was in.   There were the average courses for good students who cared but weren’t advanced, which is where Ami and Jonathan fit, and then you had the remedial sections for those kids who didn’t give a crap about school.   Jonathan and Ami had already been separated by each teacher they had all day together because they would constantly socialize by passing notes to each other.   Before they walked into the door Ami gave Jonathan her notes for Chemistry.  </p><p>“Here Jon, study!  I’m as good as I’m going to get at this point.  Plus I have Algebra homework to finish.”   Jonathan nodded his head in response and went to his desk toward the front.   </p><p>Ami took her seat in the back of the study hall.  There were a few seats empty near her, but she didn’t mind sitting alone.  She began working on finishing her math assignment and hardly noticed when the classroom opened.   Principal Coleman came in with the new student they had all watched parade himself into the building earlier today.  </p><p>“Hello Class! Principal Coleman began, “This is our newest Hawkins High student Billy Hargrove.   He comes to us by way of Sunny California! I know you will all make him feel welcome to our small town.  He will be in these classes with you all, so please show him around and make him feel welcome!”  </p><p>Mrs. Jenkins, our study hall monitor stood up to greet Billy.   “Welcome Billy, please take one of the seats available in the back by Ms. Henderson.  You should have a similar core subject schedule as the others in this class, but your electives could be different.  Welcome to Hawkins.”  She then gestured down the row towards Ami as Billy made his way down the row.</p><p>Ami didn’t look up from her notebook as Billy made his way to the seat on her right.   She could feel his eyes on her and before she even got the chance to look at her he spoke.  “Well well well, what is there to do for fun in this backwards hick town?”  Ami didn’t even dignify him with a verbal response.  She just rolled her eyes and blew her hair out of her eyes.  Billy just chuckled but continued to whisper to her “I’m sorry sweetheart did I offend your precious Hawkins?  This place is nothing compared to Cali.”  </p><p>Ami finally dignified him with a glare.  “No offence taken.  This place does suck sometimes.  I’m from Chicago, but it’s not as bad as you think. Whatever I say isn’t really going to change your mind is it?”</p><p>Billy’s eyebrows raised slightly.  He smirked and continued.  “Chicago?  Well it definitely beats this shithole.  You may be the only interesting person in this whole town.   Why don’t you let me take you out and you can show me all the fun things to do in Hawkins?”  </p><p>Ami openly laughed, gaining the attention of her fellow students and teacher.  Mrs. Jenkins walked back toward them.  “Is there a problem back here?”  </p><p>Amy smiled at Mrs. Jenkins.  “Not at all ma'am!  I was just helping Billy with his schedule and he made a joke.  He is just too funny!”  </p><p>Mrs. Jenkins looked between the two of them and just shook her head.  “Fine, but keep it to a whisper, I appreciate you reaching out and helping a fellow student but the study hall is quiet for a reason kids.”  She departed and walked back up to her desk.   </p><p>Ami immediately looked back down at her notebook and began working on her math homework once again.   She heard Billy clear his throat at her side.   She looked up at him once again with a scowl on her face.  “What do you need a cough drop or something?”   </p><p>He wagged his eyebrows suggestively at her.  “No, but you didn’t answer my question.  Are you going to show me the fun in Hawkins or not?”  </p><p>“Was me laughing in your face not answer enough?   The answer is no!  Not going to happen.  I’m not interested.  Find another sap to fall for your lines.” </p><p>His face instantly hardened.  “Whatever bitch, it’s not like you are anything to look at anyway, just thought I’d throw a literal dog a bone.  I’m sure I can find plenty of other bitches in this town that would love a ride with me.  Your loss.”  He opened his notebook angrily and began to doodle on a page.   </p><p>Ami chuckled to herself.  “I’m wounded by your assumptions of me.  Enjoy whatever whore you pick out.  Carol is pretty easy, but you’ll probably have to take her boyfriend out too.”   With this the bell rang, and everyone departed class.   </p><p>She saw out of the corner of her eye some of the other girls from class coming up to Billy and practically hanging all over him.  Jonathan met her outside of the door.  <br/>“What the hell was that about?  You making buddies with the new kid?” he inquired.  </p><p>Ami sighed and began her rant.  “He was trying to get into my pants?  Like seriously, does he think he is God’s gift to women?  Who does that?  He wanted me to take him and show him the fun parts of Hawkins after he insulted the town and everyone here!  He is disgusting.  Argh!”   </p><p>Jonathan stopped dead in his tracks.  “Wait, what!?  So he tried to get into your pants on his first day of school in the first class of the day!?   Wow, he’s got some balls.”  </p><p>Ami gestured over to where Billy now stood with a harem of Junior girls around him.  He laughed out loud and was openly flirting with them.   “Well from the looks of it, it won’t be long before he’s in someone’s pants.  Definitely won’t be mine.”</p><p>The bell rang and everyone moved into the second period of the day.   Billy ended up being in most of her classes except one of the electives.  He was even in her band class, which was the final class of the day and her most favorite.   Ami was the drum major, which meant she was in charge of conducting the band when they performed in public like in parades and on the field.   She was skilled in many instruments due to her father being an independent musician who also taught lessons.  She was often helping the teacher with students who struggled or needed extra lessons.  Music was genuinely her passion.  Her favorite overall was her acoustic guitar that she wrote all of her own music on, but she couldn’t play that in school band.  For the school band she played the xylophone, and loved it.    </p><p>Billy walked into the final class of the day and Ami just knew that Mr. Snyder was going to ask her to help Billy get sorted out with his instrument.   “Welcome Mr. Hargrove, I heard we were getting a new student to our school band!  I’m going to let Ms. Henderson here help you get set up and get you a rental instrument from what we have available unless you brought your own.  Ami, come over here and help Billy get set up.  I’m sure you’ve met each other by now.”  With that Mr. Snyder was flouncing away to go help sort the sheet music.  </p><p>Ami looked up at Billy. “So what did you play at your old school?  Did you play anything or are we starting from scratch?”  </p><p>He glared at her.  “Oh now you want to be nice to me since your band director wants you to help me out?  Just point me to the drums and I’ll do my thing.”   </p><p>She ignored his venom and continued her questions.  “What kind of drums?  Do you do the bass?  Quads?  What is your poison?”  </p><p>He shrugged but answered.  “At home I have a full drum set that I play on in the garage, but in school I’d play whatever was available.  It’s not like I can carry a whole drum set.”  </p><p>She gestured toward the bill Bass drum on the floor leaning on the wall.  “Well we have a free Bass drum here that comes with the shoulder straps.  I used to play it sometimes but I can’t anymore.”</p><p>He picked up the drum testing the weight and playing with the large drum sticks. “Thanks, even though you're a bitch I appreciate it.”  </p><p>“You’re Welcome.  Even though you're an arrogant asshole I hope you are pretty good.  Our percussion section is lacking.  We lost most of our strong drummers when they graduated last year.”</p><p>He cackled out loud.  “You really are a spitfire!  Not a lot of girls say no to me.  I have a date set up with one of the other cows in this town but I’m willing to ditch her if you want to reconsider.”  He waggled his eyebrows again.      </p><p>She sighed and walked over to her xylophone, picking up her mallets.  Mr. Snyder was ready to begin.   “Twice in one day?   Definitely no.  Stop trying to get into my pants, because it’s not going to happen.  Your behavior is repulsive.  Is this really how you get girls to date you?”</p><p>“Fine, I can take a hint!  And yes, this is really how I get girls to date me, it hasn’t failed me yet.  Until I ran into you of course.”  </p><p>“Wow, there must be a lot of dumb girls out there.”  Ami picked up the sheet music that Mr. Snyder was passing out and handed one for the bass drum over to Billy.  </p><p>He smiled.  “Sweetheart you have no idea!”   Mr. Snyder raised his baton, and they began practicing the first number.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 2: Halloween</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Typical Halloween in Hawkins.   Some hostile interactions throughout the day.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I do not own any of the characters or plot points borrowed from the creator.  All Hail the duffer brothers.   Leave love and comments!  They are life blood to an author!  Have a great night!  </p><p>PS I'm feeling motivated, so I'm writing when I get a chance, I can't believe I've done another chapter this quickly.  Maybe more later.  I don't want to put a stopper in this bottle.  haha</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 2: Halloween  </p><p>Ami woke up Halloween morning to Dustin clanging around in his bedroom trying to finish assembling his working ghost trap and putting the finishing touches on his costume.  He had been raving all week about how the 4 of them were going as the Ghostbusters this year.  It was one of Dustin’s favorite movies of this summer and he made her take him and his buds at least 4 times this summer.  She enjoyed it as well and thought it was a perfect costume for the nerd brigade.   </p><p>She groaned as she rolled over and out of bed to the bathroom.   Yesterday after Band class Billy flew out of the room and out to his car before she could even say anything more to him.   She saw his car leaving the parking lot with a smaller redhead in tow.  Ami assumed it was a younger sister since she looked about Dustin’s age.   </p><p>Ami got in the shower, wondering if she should dress up with the kids when her and Jonathan tagged along with them as they trick or treated later that evening.  It would probably be the last real year for Dustin, since he would be entering that phase soon when Halloween was for babies.  When she was leaving her room on her way out to meet Jonathan she saw her Aunt Claudia snapping pictures of Dustin and his costume.  He was so proud of his actual working ghost trap, his grin huge as he hammed it up for the camera.    </p><p>Aunt Claudia spoke, “Ami honey are you going trick or treating with Dustin and the boys tonight?”</p><p>“That’s the plan!  I think Jonathan is meeting us with Will and we are going to walk around from there together.”  She ruffled Dustin’s hair as she passed him and he scoffed in indignation.   </p><p>“Ami! now I have to go fix this!” Dustin shrieked.   </p><p>She laughed in response.   “You still look great kid!  Gotta go!  Jon’s here.  See you later squirt!  Bye Aunt Claudia, have a great day.”   She ran out of the house to Jonathan’s car.   </p><p>Jonathan and her had an uneventful car ride and morning at school.   After our Art elective, we were leaving class when Nancy who was in front of us got handed a flyer to tonight’s raging party.   Surprising to no-one the girl did not hand one to either Ami or Jonathan. She was not one of the popular kids, preferring to lay a low profile and just get through school.   Ami was never truly a fan of Nancy until they all had to work together last year.  You could tell that the loss of her best friend Barb really affected her still.  Ami completely understood that.  If she lost Jonathan, she knew she wouldn’t know how to handle it.</p><p>Nancy thrust the flyer toward Jonathan.  “Here, come get sheet faced!  It looks like it could be a good time!”  </p><p>Ami rolled her eyes.  “Pass!   You know I’m not much for parties. Plus we promised the kiddos that we would go trick or treating with them tonight.”  </p><p>Jonathan sighed.  “Yeah my mom is still in uber protective mode over Will.  She won’t let him go unless we are there.   I know they are old enough to go alone, but she is crazy right now.”  </p><p>Nancy laughed.  “Totally get it, if Mike went through what Will went through I’m sure I’d be the same way.  You guys should think about it though.  Once you drop the kids off.  Won’t hurt to be seen socializing and for once not hating something right?”  </p><p>Steve suddenly came out of nowhere and scooped up Nancy when she shrieked.   He had a brilliant smile on his face.  He was wearing trendy sunglasses, and he reminded Ami of Tom Cruise right then.   Nancy slapped him on the arm.  “You scared me!”  Steve continued to laugh.   </p><p>Ami looked over at Jonathan and saw his face was suddenly masked in sadness.  She tugged on his elbow to move them away from the group.  “Jon, you have to stop doing this to yourself.  I hate seeing you moon over her.  I thought she was going to pick you too, but it didn’t work out.”  </p><p>He sighed sadly.  “I know, I know, I am trying to not let it bother me.  I’m glad she’s happy but it makes me miserable.”  </p><p>She looked at him while responding.  “At Least you two are sort of friends now.  Plus, Steve isn’t a douche anymore.  More like less of a douche, but still, I’ll take it.  Old Steve Harrington reminds me of all the time Billy Hargrove.”  </p><p>Jonathan groaned.  “Please don’t remind me, I caught him shooting spitballs into Sarah Fisk’s hair today during Chem. Like seriously grow the hell up man, we are in 11th grade!”  They continued to walk down the hall to the next period of the day.   </p><p>“I am seriously trying to ignore him as best as possible, I find him disgusting.  Did you see he was feeling up Melissa Smith in the parking lot this morning?  I told him to find another dog to chase.  Guess he took my advice.”  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>The rest of the day was uneventful, Ami made her way to Band class.  She got herself set up with the free standing xylophone in the corner and waited for class to begin.  She waved hello to her only other friend in the class Robin as she set up with the flute section.   Billy sauntered in with seconds to spare and got himself set up with the Bass drum.  </p><p>Mr. Snyder called out to everyone.  “Okay guys!  We are starting new sheet music today upcoming for the Christmas season!   Today we are starting with Jingle Bells.  There are limited songs people so we can’t switch them ALL up every year.  Come get the sheet music for your instruments please it’s up in this folder.”  </p><p>The class moved all at once, everyone passing around sheet music for their new songs.  Ami hated Christmas.  It was her least favorite time of the year.  She flipped through the music in front of her and picked up the piece for her instrument and walked back to her area.   Billy came back to his own area and surprisingly started conversation with Ami.  </p><p>“You look miserable.” he said.  “You hate Jingle Bells or something?”</p><p>She looked up and responded.  “Not that it’s any of your business, but no.  I don’t hate Jingle Bells.  Why are you talking to me anyway?  Aren’t you only interested in getting in my pants?  Did I not see you with Melissa Smith’s breasts in your hands this morning?”    </p><p>“Oh so hostile!  What are you jealous of her or something?”  </p><p>“I honestly don’t care who or what you do around here.”</p><p>“Well, not that it’s any of your business.” he repeated back to her with a smirk, “but, Melissa was a one time thing, and I have plenty of other bitches to work through, I just find you interesting.”  </p><p>“Nice to know I amuse you.  Can we focus please?  Mr. Snyder is glaring daggers at you!”  They both looked up to see him staring at them intensely.    “Sorry sir, we are ready now!”  </p><p>The rest of class went off without a hitch.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Later that night, Ami and Dustin walked over to the Byers house a few blocks away to meet Jonathan and Will before trick or treating.   Ami had her hair all teased out, dressed in an orange dress that wasn’t as provocative as Sigourney Weaver’s from Ghostbusters, but was a little low cut, and had the crazy eye makeup she wore while she was possessed.   She wasn’t trick or treating  herself, but she wanted to show the boys she was still part of the team.  Especially since Dustin came home so upset that they were the only ones in costume at school.  He beamed at her as they walked over.   </p><p>Will and Jonathan were walking out to the car when they arrived, so they got inside.  Will looked upset, so Ami looked at Jonathan in concern.  He shrugged so she turned to him.  “Will, what is the matter?  You look really upset?”  </p><p>He sighed just like his brother.  “I’m so tired of Mom smothering me.  I can’t even trick or treat alone.  It’s embarrassing.  Nobody else is going to have an escort to get candy from strangers tonight.  I’m just sick of being treated like a kid.  I’m not going to just disappear again!”</p><p>Jonathan and her shared a look.  Jonathan looked stricken.  He wants to continue to protect Will, but he can see it is driving him crazy.  Jonathan breathed in deep and spoke.  He pulled the car up to the Wheeler house.  “Okay buddy here is the deal.  We CANNOT tell mom about this, but I will give you and Dustin the camcorder.  You guys can record the trick or treating and have a good time.  We will pick you both up here in 2 hours at 8:00.   If you are late I will never give you any leeway again!”  </p><p>His face lit up like a candle.  “Seriously!?  You won’t come with us and let me go with my friends?  I promise Jonathan we will be safe and okay and I will be back right here in two hours to meet you.”  Him and Dustin grabbed the camcorder and got out of the car to meet their buddies in Mike’s driveway.  They did a group hug and were on their way.   </p><p>“So now what are we going to do?” Ami inquired.<br/>
Jonathan pulled out the orange paper and held it up.  “Want to go get sheet faced?”  </p><p>“Are you serious!?  Just because Nancy invited you.  You know how much I hate parties Jonathan!”  He kept glaring at her with an increasingly pathetic face.  He was just beginning to jut out his bottom lip when she reached up and punched his arm.  “Fine! We can go.  We better just go to socialize and not get wasted.  You know how I feel about that shit!”  </p><p>“I promise, you know I don’t drink in front of you.  I just want to go to hang out with Nancy.  I swear!”<br/>
Ami shut her eyes and leaned her head back on the headrest.  “Just drive Byers.”  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>They pulled up to the party and it was easy to see that several people were already wasted in the front lawn.   Over in the corner she could see Billy Hargrove doing a keg stand with Tommy the ass holding his legs for balance.  He was wearing a leather jacket, no shirt and the tightest jeans she had ever seen.  He stood up from the keg stand spraying beer all over the place, down his face and chest.  Ami could hear him yelling “Yeah Hawkins!  That’s how you do it!”  The others around him were cheering his name.  </p><p>Ami sneered while looking over at them.  “Of course he’s doing a keg stand.  Just one more thing added to the list of annoying things he does to drive me insane.”   She turned back to scoff and Jonathan to find him already entering the house.  “Anddddddddddddd, I’m talking to myself.  Wonderful.  Just like usual.”   </p><p>She began to walk over to the swing set set up in the side yard to wait for Jonathan when Billy came into her line of sight.  “Well well well sweetheart.  I didn’t think you’d grace us with your presence.  According to the boys you never party.  You come to finally give me my shot?”</p><p>Ami laughed.  “You are as full of yourself as you are of cheap beer right now aren’t you?”   </p><p>He gave Ami that lazy smile and licked his lips of the remnants of beer.  “The only thing I see different in this town is me, and suddenly you start making a social appearance.   As soon as I asked the boys about you, they waved me away.  Told me that you were a nobody and a stick in the mud.  Never party and are just friends with loser Byers over there.”  Billy put his arm up as if he was about to push the hair off Ami’s forehead back over her ear.  She reached her hand up and halted him.  </p><p>“Do not touch me!  I find you disgusting.  You are drunk.  You are a womanizer, and I honestly don’t want to have anything to do with you.  So fuck off!”  She released his wrist and pushed his arm away.   </p><p>“Guess they were right.  Just so you know someone grabbing me like that usually comes with a beat down, but I don’t hit women, so you're lucky this time.  Touch me again and I might forget that rule.”  He shoved off the side of the tree he was leaning on and back over to his group of meatheads.  </p><p>Ami looked up to see Steve drunkenly leaving the house.  He stumbled to his Beemer and drove away angrily.  He looked like he was crying.   He looked back to the house and saw Jonathan slowly making his way down the steps with an extremely intoxicated Nancy.  She had what looked to be red punch spilled all down her front.  Ami rushed over to put her shoulder under Nancy’s other arm to help Jonathan get her to the car.  She looked over at him.  “What the hell happened?”  </p><p>“I honestly have no idea.  I came in to Steve pushing through the crowd toward me and I found her in the bathroom like this half passed out.  I want to get her home into bed and then we can get the kids.  It’s almost time to pick them up anyway.  Let’s go”  They put Nancy into the backseat of the car and drove away from the party, as Ami was watching Billy be put into yet another keg stand.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 3: What's happening to Will?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ami and Billy come to an almost understanding. Steve and Nancy are definitely having problems, which makes Jonathan happy.   Ami and the kids witness Will having what they all think is a seizure on the football field.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>None of these amazing characters or plot points belong to me.  All hail the original creators and all they have given us.  Comments and love are life to an author!  Much love to everyone!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 3: What’s happening to Will?  </p><p>When Amelia arrived home from Halloween, she left Dustin outside and went right to her room to be alone for a little while.  Billy had really gotten under her skin.   </p><p>She began to pace in front of her bed. She began muttering to herself as she paced.  “Who does he think he is?  Like seriously he may be attractive but he is one of the most disgusting men I’ve ever encountered.  Trying to get in my pants the first day!  And the nerve of him to try and touch me while I’ve made my intentions clear.  He’s lucky I didn’t punch him in the face….”  There was a knock on her door.   “Come in.”   </p><p>Aunt Claudia opened the door and gave her a hesitant look.  “Bad night?”   </p><p>“Yeah, How did you know? We actually ended up picking Nancy from a party she got wasted at and had to bring her home.  It was a mess.” </p><p>“I knew it had to be something, considering you marched right past me when I asked you how the evening went and didn’t even acknowledge my existence.”  </p><p>“Did I really?  I’m so sorry.  I guess my brain was on overload.  Dustin seemed to have a great night.  He looked happy with his candy load.”  </p><p>“Yeah I just said goodnight to him and sent him off to bed in his room.  Are you sure that’s all that’s bothering you?”  </p><p>“Yeah, I’m fine.  There is just this guy at school who annoys me to no end and I had to see him at this party when we stopped to get Nancy. It’s not a big deal.”  </p><p>“As long as you’re okay, that’s all I care about.  You know you can talk to me right?  I know I’m not your mom, but I try to be here for you for anything.”  </p><p>“I know, and you have no idea how much you mean to me Aunt C. I’m really okay, and if I do need to talk, you know I will.  I love you.” </p><p>“Love you too AmiBug.  Goodnight dear.”  She left the room and closed the door behind her.  Ami got ready for bed and fell asleep quickly thinking about how grateful she was to have her Aunt Claudia and her cousin Dustin.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Jonathan picked her up like usual the next morning and they went off to school.  Dustin was running behind, but he said he didn't want a ride, so they left him behind.   </p><p>Ami was sitting in her usual seat in Study Hall when Billy plopped down noisily in the seat next to her.   His hair was slightly mussed and he had on dark sunglasses to cover up the fact he washed terribly hungover.  He was chewing a stick of gum loudly and popping it every few seconds.   Ami glared over at him.  He looked up and met her gaze behind his shades, giving her a toothy grin and just snapped the gum even louder.  She sighed and looked back down to her page.  She had completed all her current school work, and was working on her most recent song she was writing.  The music came to her quickly, but the lyrics she struggled with.  That was always her downfall when creating her songs.  </p><p>Now that he was no longer the center of her attention, he leaned his desk over so he could try to look over her shoulder.  Ami quickly threw her arms over her notes and glared over at him.  “Do you mind?  I’m working on something private!  What is with the sunglasses?  Have a bit too much fun last night did we?” she whispered back at him.   </p><p>“I don’t mind at all sweetheart, and you wouldn't know what a good time looks like if it came up and hit you on the ass” he said with a grin.   </p><p>“Oh no! You scorn me with your words. Listen, you don’t like me and I really don’t like you, so why don’t we just continue to ignore each other like I’ve been trying to do.”  </p><p>“Who says I don’t like you?  I never said that.  I thought I made it apparent that I wanted to meet you privately for you to show me a good time, if you know what I mean.”</p><p>“Yeah, that’s a hard no.  How else can I put this?  Not if you were the last man on this earth and we needed your sperm to repopulate the planet.”  </p><p>“Harsh, but I get the hint Henderson.  I actually wanted to talk to you and maybe extend the olive branch.” </p><p>“Now why would I want to do that?”  </p><p>“I don’t know.  You actually seem like someone I might actually have things in common with." </p><p>"What could I possibly have in common with you, Hargrove?"</p><p>"You wore a Metallica shirt today, so apparently you actually like good music.  You are from an actual city unlike any of these other backwoods creeps, and you are actually really good with music and I respect that.   I promise to stop trying to get into your pants.  I just want to not be enemies.  We don’t have to be friends, but it might be nice to talk to someone who understands the culture shock of moving to Hawkins.”  </p><p>“Wow that is the most you have said to me without being disgusting. I thought you were busy hanging out with idiot Tommy and his crew.” </p><p>"Tommy is attached to my ass. He is alright but he just goes along with everything I have to say. I need my friends to have a little fight in them."</p><p>"I don't know if I believe you but I'll think about it. Now let me finish what I was doing."</p><p>“That’s all I ask.”  He went back to drumming on his desk with his fingers and snapping his gum.   She glared at him again and gestured with her eyes down to his hands.  He looked at her, smiled again, and snapped his gum even louder.  All she could do in response is sigh.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Jonathan walked up to her after Gym class.  The 11th and 12th grade boys had gym at the same time as the girls, but in different sections of the gym.  “Ami, Nancy is really upset about whatever happened last night, so I’m going to cut out with her and go talk with her.  Can you find your own ride?”  </p><p>“Yeah, I got it covered, don’t worry about it.  Is she okay?  Steve looked a mess earlier and I know she was hammered.  Did they fight?”  </p><p>“I don’t know much yet, but I do know that he never picked her up this morning which is why she was late, and that apparently she broke up with him last night but has no memory of it. I think they just had a fight now during gym.  She came in and asked to talk to him outside.”</p><p>“Okay, keep me posted.”  She watched Jonathan walk away smiling to herself.  He was so hopelessly in love with Nancy Wheeler.  Of course he drops everything just to go with her.  Ami looked through the cafeteria. Her usual table was her, Jonathan, Nancy and Steve.  Steve was sitting over with some of the other guys from the basketball team. He looked up at Ami when she came in and gave her a wave but looked away to continue talking to his teammates. Ami and Steve were on friendly terms, but not really friends.   They all just had shared trauma.  She hoped he could find happiness after this Nancy fiasco. Ami thought Steve had actually come really far since last year.  </p><p>Ami didn't want to sit alone for lunch so she decided to go down to the band room and practice using the school piano.   Her favorite instrument was her acoustic guitar, but she loved the piano and missed having one at her disposal at home.  She didn't get to play as often as she liked.  She pulled out her lunch to set it next to her on the piano bench.  Mr. Snyder was okay with her borrowing his piano when he was on his hall duty when Ami had lunch this year.  <br/>She began playing something from memory since she didn't feel like going through all the sheet music to find something.   She was always a fan of the classical composers so she chose Beethoven's 5th symphony.  She was lost in the music about a minute in when someone clears their throat from the side of the classroom.  Ami jumped, screamed, and held her hand up to her heart when she swiveled around to see Billy standing behind her.  “Jesus Christ!  You scared the shit out of me!”</p><p>“Jesus Henderson, you jumped like 5 feet in the air.  Why are you so jumpy?”  </p><p>“Again, none of your business.  What are you doing here?  Aren’t you enjoying lunch with the lamebrains?”  </p><p>“I was headed out to sneak a post lunch smoke when I heard the music.  I was curious.” </p><p>“Curiosity killed the cat...or in your case the pig.”  </p><p>Billy barked out a laugh.  “You really hate me don’t you?  I thought you said you’d think about it?”</p><p>“Dude, it’s been less than a day.  I haven’t made my assessment yet.  Plus you just made me jump and freak out when I was trying to get practice in.  Thanks for that by the way.”</p><p>He came over and pulled one of the chairs up so he was next to the bench.  “Were you playing from memory?  I don’t see any sheet music.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve been playing a long time, and I didn’t feel like hunting for anything new in the piles, so I played an old standard.”</p><p>“How many instruments do you play?” he asked.  </p><p>She scratched her head for a second.  “Let me think.  I’d consider myself proficient in the piano, guitar, and xylophone.  I’m passable with the drums, tuba, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, flute, and recorder.  I can usually teach myself the instrument if I practice for a few hours.  Most of them are similar and the notes are easy to figure out.  I kind of see the music in my head and am able to associate the new instruments into things I already know.  I started when I was really little, so it’s all I’ve ever known.”  </p><p>Billy’s eyes were wide.  He looked kind of shocked.  “Well, aren’t you a regular savant.  I thought I was good at the drums, but hearing you play that from memory without any music, I’m impressed.”</p><p>Ami looked doubtful.  “You aren’t just making fun of me? Everyone thinks I’m a freak band geek.”</p><p>“Oh you're definitely a band geek and a freak, but I’m still impressed.  Play something else.  What else do you know from memory?” </p><p>Just when she was about to start playing something else, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch.   “Oh shit, I lost track of time.  Sorry you missed your cigarette.  I bet you’ll be dying for a smoke by the end of the day.”  </p><p>Billy got up to get to his locker before his next period class.  “It’s fine, I’m glad I heard you.  I’ll just skip outside during one of these annoying classes.”  He ran out the door to meet his friends in the hallway.  Ami packed up her things and made her way down the hall, thinking she would meet Dustin at the middle school and see if they could get a ride home from Joyce since she was picking up Will.   </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>After school Ami walked over to Hawkins Middle through the shared parking lot.  She had a pretty uneventful day after lunch. Her classes were quiet without Jonathan there and her and Billy were still only exchanging  a few sentences a period.   Ami went to the front of the school to sit on one of the benches to wait for Dustin and see if Joyce was coming to pick up Will.   </p><p>She had seen Billy race out of the school parking lot, with yet another girl on his arm, looking annoyed.  Ami never asked him if he had a sister or not, but he always saw her driving around with a small redhead.  Dustin had mentioned they had gone trick or treating with the new girl Max.  Ami assumed that was her.  </p><p>She was sitting outside for 15 minutes, almost lost in the lyrics to her newest song when she saw Will race out of the building like he was being chased.  He was booking it to the football field breathing so hard she could hear him.  Ami dropped her books and ran after him.   She saw him standing in the middle of the football field screaming at some unseen force.  “GO AWAY!!!!  GO AWAY!!!!!!”  He gasped, started to choke on his own breath and his eyes started to roll back into his head.   It looked like he was having a seizure, but he was still standing up.  Ami was afraid to shake, but she heard the boys come up behind her.   </p><p>She turned to look at them.  “Go to the office and have them call an ambulance.  Or Joyce.  He is having a seizure or something.”   </p><p>Ami turned back to Will.  “Will, buddy, can you hear me?  It’s Ami!  You’re safe.  We are here.  Me, Dustin, and Mike are here.  You are safe.”  Ami could hear Joyce approaching behind them.  She turned around.  “Joyce, I don’t know what happened, he was running away from the school and I found him up here screaming and then he started to do this.”  </p><p>Joyce got in front of Will.  She grabbed his arms and started to shake him.  “Will, wake up.  It’s mom.  WAKE UP!” </p><p>His eyes snapped open.   He burst into tears and fell into Joyce’s arms.  She huddled him up with her jacket and led him to the car.  Ami and the boys all looked around with wide fearful eyes.   The redhead was there with them on the field.   She looked terrified.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 4: Talking with Max</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Max and Ami have a chat that causes a rift between Billy and Ami.   Dustin and Ami spend some time together.  Jonathan makes dangerous plans.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I own nothing that involves the amazing world of Stranger Things.  All the characters belong to the creators, and not to me.  I only borrow them for my own enjoyment.  Leaving love and comments mean the world to authors!  Hope you all have a great day!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 4: Talking with Max</p><p>Ami looked around at all of them and the terrified looks on their faces.  “Come on guys, we know Joyce has him.  He’ll be okay.  Let’s get our stuff and hoof it home.  Jonathan went home early so there is no ride.”  </p><p>The redhead looked around, over to the high school lot.  “Shit!  Freaking Billy left me here.   Can I walk with you guys?  I’m not really sure of all the streets yet.”  </p><p>Mike looked like he was about to protest, but Ami gave him a stern look and he shut his mouth.  She looked over at Max.  “Sure kid, what is your address? So I know who to send you with.  We all live in different directions from here.” </p><p>Max looked over at Ami and replied, “Our house is on Old Cherry Road.”</p><p>Ami smiled.  “Yeah that is like a block away from us, you can follow Dustin and me.  Guys, run inside fast and get all your stuff.”   She stood out front waiting for the kids to gather their belongings from inside the school.   </p><p>As they were walking out she heard Dustin saying.  “Fine, we can meet in the morning to look, I’ll come early.  Bye guys.  Come on Max.”  </p><p>The trio began walking in the direction of their neighborhood.   They were almost awkwardly quiet.  “So Max, how do you like Hawkins so far?  I bet it isn’t as exciting as sunny California.” </p><p>She looked over at Ami and smiled.  “It’s okay I guess.  Mike is kind of a jerk, but everyone else seems okay.  Billy hates it here though, or so he says, at length, daily.”</p><p>Ami laughed.  She had softened on Billy a little bit that day, he hadn’t seemed so bad once he stopped hitting on her every 5 minutes.  “I think I know your brother.  He seems like his bark is worse than his bite.”  </p><p>“Yeah, then you don’t really know Billy.  He’s not my brother.  Well technically he’s my step brother, but he is a jerk.  He is always so mean to me.  He breaks my things.  He is angry all the time.  He’s even worse since being here.  He is probably being his charming self to you trying to get into your pants.”  </p><p>Dustin spoke up.  “Wait a minute, your asshole step-brother that tried to run me over and made me tip my bike is trying to get in Ami’s pants?  No way is that happening, not on my watch with my cousin.  I’m sorry Ami but that guy is a tool.”  </p><p>Ami stopped in her tracks.  “HE DID WHAT!?  He tried to run over you?  When was this?”</p><p>“Yesterday.  When we were coming home from school before we went trick or treating.  He sped up and made us veer off the road.  I scraped up my knee.   Son of a bitch.”</p><p>Ami was seething.  “Don’t worry Dustin, I’ll take care of this.   Max, I’m so sorry you have to deal with him.” </p><p>“It’s okay, I’m honestly used to it.  He wasn’t so bad in California, now he is just angry that he isn’t with his old friends and has to start over.  I think it’s good for him to get away in the long run.”</p><p>They kept walking, making other pleasant conversations on the way.  They reached Max’s house first.  Billy’s car was already there in the driveway.  She picked up her skateboard and walked up to the house.  “Bye guys, thanks for helping me get home!”  She waved and went to open the front door.   </p><p>Dustin and Ami continued on the way home when she heard someone jogging up behind her.   She turned to see Billy coming up to them.  “Dusty, just continue home, I’ll follow in a minute, I have to talk to Billy.”  </p><p>He looked skeptical.  “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay for backup?”  </p><p>She smiled warmly at him.  “Yeah bud, I’m sure, go home and feed Mews, Aunt C is out tonight for her double shift so I’ll make food as soon as I get back.”  </p><p>By now Billy had caught up to them.  Dustin turned to leave.   “Henderson, you drop off my step-sister and you don’t even stick around to say hello?”  </p><p>She turned around and gave him a severe look.  “Listen here Hargrove.  You don’t get to talk to me anymore.  We aren’t friends, and we won’t be.   Don’t you ever come near me or my cousin again.  You tried to run over 3 kids on bikes as they rode home from school?  What the hell is wrong with you?”  </p><p>Billy looked irate.  His smile fell and his mouth went into a sneer.  “I actually wasn’t going to hit them.  I was just trying to piss off Max.” </p><p>Ami screamed back at him.  “NOT AN EXCUSE!  Are you insane?  He fell off his bike into a ditch.  Then you just left them there and sped away.  Just go away and leave us alone. I honestly don’t think I can be friends with someone who is so casual about the way he treats children.   Those kids mean so much to me, and I’d do anything to protect them!”  </p><p>“Well excuse me Princess!  I had no idea you were so delicate when it came to busting the chops of some pipsqueaks.   Who cares how I treat them?  I thought we were getting along!”  </p><p>“Because you are still trying to find a way into my pants!  Do me a favor Billy will you?  Forget my name.  Forget we ever talked.  Just fuck off.”  Ami picked up her bag she dropped and continued walking the block over to her house.   She heard Billy scream behind her and what sounded like him punching the stop sign at the end of the street.  She didn’t turn around to see if that’s what he really did.  She honestly didn’t care.   </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Ami and Dustin made tacos for dinner together.  He helped her cut up all the vegetables that went along with it while Ami browned the hamburger and toasted the shells in the  oven.   This way Aunt Claudia would have leftovers when she got home from her double shift.  Dustin had been oddly quiet tonight.  Ami spoke up interrupting his thoughts.  “What is with you tonight?  You’re too silent for you.  Are you okay?”  </p><p>He let out a huge sigh.  “I guess.  The guys were being assholes before because they were jealous of something I found, and Mike was being really mean to Max and I have no idea why.  Plus I’m just really worried about Will.  That was really scary.  Do you think he will be okay?”  </p><p>Ami reached over and enveloped him into a one armed hug.  “I think so kiddo.  He has been through alot of shit but he’s a tough one.  I think Joyce is taking care of him and he will recover over time.   After the first attack, I wasn’t the same for a long time and I only dealt with that bullshit for like 2 days.  He was in there like a week.   Only someone that smart and tough could survive something like that.”  </p><p>“I didn’t know you had a hard time after.  Why didn’t you tell me?  I would have helped you.”  </p><p>“I know.  I still have a lot of pain and numbness in my shoulders, and my movement is still limited, but the therapy I’ve been going to every other Saturday up in Chicago has really helped.   It sucks that I have to take the bus all the way up there but it’s worth it.  I’m glad I’m off this week.  Need a weekend to recover, it’s been an insane week.”</p><p>“How do you know Max’s step-brother?”  </p><p>“He is literally in all my classes, and has been trying to get into my pants since the first day he met me.  He’s disgusting.  I was trying to be nice to him because he seemed like he just needed a chance, but not after I found out what he tried to do to you guys.  I know I’m not officially in the party, but I literally saved your skins with mine last year.  I’m not risking you dorks for anything.”</p><p>Dusting hugged her fiercely.  “Have I told you how happy I am that you came to live with us?  Since my dad left, it was so lonely with just me and mom.  I love you so much and I’m so glad we can be a family.”   </p><p>“I love you too buddy.  I would want to be nowhere else in the world than with you guys at this point in my life.   Okay, this is done.  How about you get us 2 plates, and we just make a buffet line of tacos to bring to the table?  Then I’ll leave the fixings for your mom when she gets home.  How does that sound?”</p><p>“Perfect!” He ran off to get the plates.   </p><p>The Henderson house phone rang.  Ami picked it up.  She figured it was Aunt Claudia calling to check in on her break.  She decided to be funny and answer the phone the same way that Aunt Claudia had to answer it at work.  “Henderson residence, this is Amelia speaking, How may I direct your call?”   </p><p>“Hi Henderson residence.  This is Jonathan Byers.  Is it okay if I stop over to talk for a few minutes?”  </p><p>“Jon?  Everything okay?  I mean of course you can come over but I got scared for a second.”  </p><p>“Yeah, I’ll be over in like half an hour to explain things.  Meet me in my car.  Don’t worry.  See you soon.”  He hung up. Ami went to the table with Dustin and they continued to eat dinner with normal conversation. </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Jonathan pulled up in the Henderson driveway at the same time as Claudia Henderson.   Ami was walking out the door to meet and talk with Jonathan at the same time.   </p><p>“Hey Aunt C.  Dustin is in his room and I’m just getting notes to Jonthan he forgot at school.  There are taco fixings in the fridge you can heat up for yourself.!”</p><p>“Thank you so much dear.  It was such a long day.  I look forward to having the day off tomorrow.”  She waved over to Jonathan as she walked into the house.  He returned her wave.  </p><p>Ami walked over to Jonathan in his car and entered the passenger seat.   “So lover boy, how was the day with Miss Perfect?” </p><p>Jonathan gave Ami a dirty glare.  “Ha ha Ami.  So funny.   We actually had a really long talk.  She has been feeling the guilt of Barb’s death really hard, and I think it’s been taking a toll on her and Steve’s relationship.  According to her they are actually broken up.”</p><p>“Wow, I know she was close to Barb but I had no idea she still felt this guilty about what happened.  I mean I can see why she does, since she abandoned Barb to go bone Steve, but what happened to Barb was really just a tragic accident.”</p><p>“So anyway, the reason I’m here, her and I are going on a mission tomorrow.  I don’t want to give you any specifics so you can’t be questioned in case we do get into trouble, but we are trying to do something to help alleviate her guilt about Barb.”</p><p>“Jonathan, are you going to fuck with the American government after everything we all went through last year?”  </p><p>“I honestly can’t tell you, but just know that I’ll be back in a few days and I’ll explain everything then when I can.   I just didn’t want you to be worried when you didn’t see me.  Mom just thinks I’m spending a few days with the guys. I wanted to talk out here in case any of our houses or things are still bugged.”  </p><p>“Fine, but if you get into trouble and die, I’ll kill you myself.  Please be careful.  I worry about you, especially since you’ll do anything for love.”  </p><p>“I promise, I’ll be as safe as possible and I will make smart choices.”  They hugged each other.  Jonathan waved at Ami when she got out of the car and walked toward the driveway.  </p><p>She watched him walk away and smiled sadly.  “Please don’t let this be the last time I ever see you.”   She walked into the house, shut the door, and turned off the porch light.  Tomorrow was a new day, and she hoped her best friend would be safe on whatever crazy adventure he had planned.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 5: Will the Wise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Billy and Ami have quick but unpleasant a car ride.  Ami spends a little time talking to Mike.   Mike and Ami go to help Joyce deal with whatever is happening to Will.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I do not own anything from Stranger Things including plot line or characters.  I'm only doing this for fun.   All hail the creators and they get full credit.  Love and comments are like food to an author so share the wealth!  Have a great day!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 5: Will The Wise</p><p>Dustin went into school early the next morning, so Ami had to walk by herself.   She was going down her street toward the school when she could hear a car engine sputtering slightly behind her.  The car slowed, and pulled up alongside her.   She leaned her head back to look at the sky and started muttering to herself.  “Please don’t be Billy Hargrove…please don’t be Billy Hargrove….please don’t be Billy Hargrove…”.   She looked over and saw his smirk from the driver’s side.  His passenger window was open.  </p><p>She started walking faster, and he picked up his pace to remain next to her on the road.  “Listen sweetheart, I know you aren’t too fond of me right now but it’s quite a hike to that school.  I don’t know where your usual ride is today, but get in the car!” </p><p>She refused to look in his direction and continued to walk.  “Not interested in anything from you Hargrove!”  </p><p>He continued to pursue her down the street.  “Listen, Max skateboarded in early for some meeting with her little dork friends, so I have a free seat, just ready for you to take it! If you don’t I’m going to follow you the whole way just like this and annoy you every step of the way.”</p><p>She stopped walking to turn to him and respond, while Billy also stopped the car. “Who’s to say that I get in the car and you don’t continue to annoy me?  Besides I don’t accept rides from someone who tries to murder children via road rage and then calls them little dorks.”   </p><p>Billy reached over to open the passenger door.  “Listen, I can explain if you just get in the car.”  </p><p>Amy threw up her arms in frustration.  “Oh my God!  Fine!”  She walks over, opens the passenger seat of the blue Camaro and slams the door shut.</p><p>Billy put the car back into gear.  “Was that so hard?”  He started going at normal speed for the back roads of Hawkins.  “Are you even going to talk to me?”  </p><p>Ami put her hand up to her chin.  “Hmmm.  Let me think.  Are you going to explain why you tried to run over my baby cousin?”  </p><p>Billy almost growled with frustration.  He started speaking at a quicker rate and a higher volume, obviously distressed.   “Listen, about your cousin, I really was just messing around with Max.  I was never really going to hurt them. Max just makes me insane.  Her mom and my dad have been slowly moving stuff still from California, so it’s been just me and her all week.   They make it back with the second load of belongings this weekend.” </p><p>Ami glared at Billy from the passenger seat.  “That really isn’t an excuse.  You honestly could have hurt them.  You don’t understand how important those kids are to me and I don’t expect you to, but that is not acceptable, and definitely not the way to being on friendly terms with me.”</p><p>Billy had started going faster in his agitation.  He slammed on the brakes right by a stop sign before the block to the school.  “You should know by now sweetheart that I’m not a nice person.  I just think we would have a lot in common and could probably have a great time together, but I’m not nice and I probably never will be.” </p><p>Ami refused to even look in his direction after that statement.  She did roll her eyes as she responded, “You aren’t telling me anything I haven’t figured out on my own.”</p><p>Billy sighed in frustration.  “For someone who is so critical of how I behave, you can be a real bitch you know that?”   </p><p>Ami again refused to look in his direction as he was pulling into the school parking lot.  “Again, you aren’t telling me anything I haven’t figured out on my own about myself.”   He pulled into what was now his usual spot in the lot of the high school.  Ami got out of the car and started walking toward the school, leaving Billy in the lot with everyone looking at him.  Ami could see out of the corner of her eye Tommy walking up to him with an inquisitive look on his face.  </p><p>Before Tommy could even ask him why he was with Ami, Billy yelled across the lot for everyone to hear.  “You’re for the ride by the way loser!  Don’t beg me again, it’s not my fault your house is down the road from mine.  I won’t take pity on your ass again bitch!” </p><p>Ami could hear Tommy crack up in laughter along with some of the other basketball guys he hung around with.  Ami didn’t even dignify them by turning around.  She simply held up her middle finger for everyone to see as she walked into the school building to begin her day.  Thankfully he ignored Ami for the rest of the day, however she had to listen to Billy in all his classes as he talked and flirted with everyone else.   </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>After school Ami went over to the elementary school.  She watched Max skate toward Billy’s car after she was just talking to Lucas.  He looked upset, and smelled his sleeve, jerking like he was disappointed.   “Hey Lucas, you okay?”  </p><p>He turned to her with a grim face.  “Max is pissed because Mike is a jerk.  I tried to talk to her, but she won’t talk to me and she told me I still stink like the dumpster.”  </p><p>Ami looked at him strangely.  “Why do you smell like the dumpster?”  </p><p>Lucas looked around nervously.   “Oh, well, we ah, we lost something yesterday, and we thought it might have been thrown away by the janitors, so I drew the short straw and jumped in the dumpster.”  </p><p>Ami made a disgusted face.  “Harsh, well if it helps, I think you smell fine, she’s probably just angry.”  The other boys walked up to her.  Ami smiled at them all.  “Hey guys!  Where is Will?  Still not feeling better?”  </p><p>Mike looked like someone kicked his puppy, he was almost as bad as when they had lost El last year.  “Yeah, I’m actually going over to check on him before I meet up with the guys later.”  </p><p>Ami smiled at him and patted him on the back.  “You know what, I think I’m going to come with you.  I miss the kid, and I really want to check on Joyce too.  She looked a mess yesterday. Plus, Jonathan had an appointment so I wanted to see if he was home.”  </p><p>They all parted ways while Mike and Ami walked to the Byers house.  Mike was unusually quiet on the way, which showed Ami how worried about Will he really is.  He startled Ami out of her thoughts.  “Ami, can I ask you something?” he asked.  </p><p>“Yeah, of course you can buddy.  What’s up?” she said as she nodded her ascent.   </p><p>He bit his lip nervously before speaking.  “Do you think El is out there somewhere?  I keep thinking I feel her with me, but when I look around, nobody is there.”  He shoved his hands in his pockets, looking down to the ground dejectedly.   </p><p>Ami thought carefully before she responded.  “I really do Mike. I’m not sure where she is, or why she hasn’t contacted us, but maybe she is afraid.   I just hope we can find her again someday soon.  I know how important she is to you, and I really do think we will find her again.”  </p><p>Mike pulled his hands out of his pockets, ran over to Ami, and wrapped her in a hug.  He started to cry a little bit.  She could feel his tears through her sweater.  “I just miss her so much.  I worry about her and I want to know if she is safe.”  </p><p>Ami ran her fingers soothingly through his hair.  “Maybe soon we can talk to Hopper, see if he can help us try and find her.  Who knows, maybe he actually has been trying already!”  </p><p>He pulled back from the hug and wiped his eyes.  “Thanks Ami.  I know you aren’t my sister, but you always listen to me whenever I need you to.”  </p><p>She ruffled the hair on top of his head.  “Anytime kiddo.  Let’s go check on the Byers.”   They continued on their way.   </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Joyce answered the door.  “Hey guys!  Will isn’t feeling up to visitors right now, I’m trying to get him to rest.  I appreciate you guys coming out here but he really needs to just lay down and rest.  I’ll tell him you were here.”  </p><p>She goes to shut the door in Ami and Mike’s faces when Mike speaks up.  “It’s the shadow monster isn’t it?”   </p><p>Joyce turns around with eyes wide and her mouth dropped open.  “What did he tell you about it?  Come in quick, both of you.”  She grabbed them both by the wrists and threw them both inside.   </p><p>Ami looked around at the walls.  There were drawings taped up on the walls and floors.  Several were laying on the floor ready to get put up, while Will sat at his desk frantically scribbling and producing more drawings to be put together.  Mike and Ami looked at each other knowing the same thing.  Something was wrong, horribly wrong.  </p><p>Joyce came back out of Will’s room.  “Okay, can you both help me try to find how these connect and help me keep taping them up?  Will says he can feel that shadow thing inside him, and these are the pictures that the shadow monster is trying to show him.  Hopper was here, but he got an idea and left, so now I’m just trying to finish putting these clues together.  I know it sounds crazy…”</p><p>Ami touched Joyce’s hand.  “Joyce, you can never sound crazy to me.  You were right last year, and I believe you now.  What do you need me to do?”  </p><p>Joyce smiled gratefully through tears at Ami, and grabbed her cheeks.  “Thank you sweetie, I’m so glad you are both here.  Mike keep grabbing the drawings from Will, <br/>Ami try and help me line these up, I’ll show you what I was doing with them before you got here.”  </p><p>The small group set to work.  It took them almost 2 hours, but Will was finished scribbling, and they finally have all the pieces up.  Mike and Will went to talk in Will’s bedroom while Joyce and Ami made some sandwiches.   The two sat down and began to eat gratefully for the break in drawings.  </p><p>Joyce grabbed Ami’s hand and rubbed her thumb along the top of it.  “Thank you for coming.  I know Jonathan is out with the guys this weekend, but I appreciate you being here for me and for Will.  I don’t know what to do if there is something else going on with my boy.  He has been through so much already.  We all just need a break.”  </p><p>Ami squeezed Joyce’s hand.   “Anytime.  I just wanted to come with Mike and see how he was doing.  I’m glad I came.  We will figure this out.  Whatever is going on, we will get to the bottom of it.  Hopefully Hopper comes back soon with whatever had him running off and we can go from there.”  </p><p>Joyce smiled at Ami through her tears.   Will and Mike wandered out to the kitchen.   Joyce stood up and turned to them.  “Hey boys, we just made some sandwiches, here take one and eat up.”  </p><p>Mike took one off the plate but Will shook his head.  “No mom, there is a problem.  I keep seeing Hopper in my ‘now’ memories.  Something is wrong.  I feel like he is going to die.”  Will was pointing to one spot on his papers.  “He is here.  If we can figure out what this means, then we can find him, but we have to hurry.  I don’t think he has much time.”  </p><p>Joyce looked over at Mike and Ami with big eyes.  The three of them started frantically looking at the papers and throwing out ideas on what the brown and blue lines could mean.  Joyce saw headlights shine into the house and a car on the gravel driveway.  Joyce put her cigarette out in the ashtray before speaking.   “Shit!  It’s Bob, you guys keep thinking, I’ll go get him to go home.  He doesn't need to be involved in this.”  </p><p>Ami, Mike and Will continued to throw out ideas as Joyce went out to talk to Bob.  Ami had only met Bob a few times at Radio Shack and when he came with Joyce to pick up Will places.  He was a sweet guy who seemed to really care about Joyce.  Ami was happy for them.   They turned when the door re-opened, to see Bob coming in with Joyce.  </p><p>Joyce was talking to him as they entered.  “Okay, Bob, we need to figure out where this spot is, but you can’t ask us any questions about what is going on.  We need your puzzle brain right now.”  </p><p>Bob looked around at the group of him.  “Joyce, can I talk to you over here really fast?”  They walked off into the kitchen to continue their conversation.  <br/>Ami and the boys continued to look at the pictures until she heard Bob say.  “I know that shape. It's Lovers' Lake. It's Lovers' Lake. I get it. Okay, I get. That's Lake Jordan.”  Bob was now moving around the house from picture to picture.  “And if that's Lake Jordan, then you can probably find… Yeah, that's, uh, Sattler's quarry. And if you just follow it naturally...it moves to...the Eno River. And there it is. That's the Eno, do you see it? Okay, so the lines aren't roads. But they act like roads. And they act like roads 'cause when you follow 'em, you'll see...they don't go over water. And that's the giveaway. That's the giveaway. Ha! Don't you get it? It's not a puzzle, it's a map. It's a map of Hawkins. Right, Will?” Bob finished with a laugh.  </p><p>They all looked around in wonder.  Bob the brain indeed!</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 6: Hawkins Lab</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ami is whisked along with the crew to Hawkins lab.  Will they escape unscathed?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey all!   This was a really hard one for me to get through.  I've been going through a lot mentally and haven't had the motivation to  do this.   </p><p>Any similarities between my work and anyone else's work is purely a coincidence.   I don't own any of these characters or any of the plot points taken from Stranger Things.  This is all for fun.  As always kudos and comments are the best thing to a person.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 6: Hawkins Lab</p><p>Mike and Ami were thrown into a makeshift hospital room with a few chairs and a hospital bed.   They were alone right now.  Hopper was off getting cleaned up from being in that hole for at least a day.   Joyce and Bob were getting changed and both were with Will as they were doing tests on him.   Mike sat down into the seat next to Ami and put his head on her shoulder.   Tears started streaming down his face as he finally broke down.  </p><p>Ami threw her arm around Mike’s shoulders and he buried himself into her stomach.  He was openly sobbing at this point.  Ami began to run her fingers through his hair.  “Hey, it’s okay Mike.  I know this is scary, but we are somewhere that can probably help Will and hopefully they will figure out what is going on.” She continued to try and calm the terrified boy, rubbing his back and talking quietly to him.  </p><p>He finally calmed down enough to focus on Ami and talk to her.  “Ami he was shaking for 15 minutes.   He was screaming in the ambulance the whole way to this place.   It was so terrifying.  What if they can’t help him.  I can’t lose him too.  I already lost Eleven and I can’t lose Will too after we did all of that just to get him back.”   </p><p>Ami took Mike’s hand and brought him to the attached bathroom.  She washed his face and gave him a drink of water to try and calm him down.   When they got back into the room they saw that pillows and blankets had been provided for them.  Obviously they weren’t being let out anytime soon.  It was late into the night, so she helped Mike get settled for them to try and get some sleep.   It was a restless night.  Ami felt like she had to watch over Mike to make sure he was okay.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>In the morning, they were woken up by Will being pushed in on a stretcher with Bob and Joyce following behind.  They were now wearing green hospital scrubs and looked cleaner than when they came out of the hole.   </p><p>Ami went over and wrapped Joyce into a hug.  “How is Will?  Is Hopper okay? Do they know anything yet?”   </p><p>Joyce pulled back and smiled sadly at Ami.  “Hopper is going to be just fine sweetie.  He is still getting decontaminated, and they said he was pretty sick from inhaling all that stuff for so long.  As for Will and this whole situation, they have no idea yet.  Nobody can seem to tell me what is wrong with my boy.”   Joyce started to cry a little bit at the end.   Bob came over and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her into a hug.   Hopper eventually came in looking clean, but exhausted.   </p><p>Ami went back over to Mike who was sitting by Will.   They were talking quietly.   She sat down in one of the chairs provided and leaned her head back.   She was sure Dustin and her Aunt were both worried by now.  She had no idea how she was going to explain this to Aunt Claudia.   Her aunt’s knowledge of what happened last year is limited to the fact that Ami was attacked by some kind of wild animal while the kids continued to look for Will.  </p><p>Mike and Ami continued to play cards as people kept coming and leaving the room.  They were brought meals into the room and tried to nap some more just to pass the time.   They were there almost the whole day just trying to figure out what was going on with Will.  They brought in one of those tentacle things from the hole in the ground and tried to burn it, but any burning of the plant made Will instantly scream in pain.   It looked like they were going nowhere fast.   <br/>She wasn’t sure at this point how long they had been there when Hopper left with Doctor Owens to go look at whatever he had to show him related to Will and the upside down.  </p><p>Will looked over at Mike.  “The shadow Monster. I think I know how to stop it.”   Ami and Mike looked over from Will to Joyce to see her going to grab someone.   Soon they had taken will to an office to talk about whatever he was seeing.  </p><p>When he came back he looked extremely upset.   Ami could see him silently crying.  After 20 minutes or so he looked over at Joyce.  “I’m so sorry.  He made me do it.   They upset him.”</p><p>Before any of them could properly react, they could hear the alarms sounding.  Will looked at all of them with tears shining in his eyes.  “You should go.  They’ll be here soon.”  </p><p>Mike immediately sprung to action.  “The Spy.  He’s spying on us.  We have to get to them.  We have to help them!”  The guards at the door held him back.  They stood guard until everyone started hearing the growling.  </p><p>Ami was instantly in a panic.  She knew that sound.  She knew the growling.  She was instantly brought back to that night when the Demogorgon had attacked her and took Eleven away from them.   She dropped to the floor on the ground and sort of crab walked backwards until she hit the wall.  She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her head down.  She couldn’t stop shaking.  She started whispering to herself getting progressively louder as she went.  “No no no no no no no NO NO NO NO!”  </p><p>Ami jumped up just when Hopper ran into the room with Doctor Owens.   He looked around while picking up a newly unconscious Will from the bed.   “We need to get out of here.  Let’s go!  Hurry, we have to make this fast.”  </p><p>Ami grabbed Mike’s hand and started to run as fast as she could.   They got down a few hallways, seeing assorted chaos.  People were getting attacked.  There was blood all over the floor.  Ami refused to look down, but she could hear the sounds of chewing and knew someone was getting eaten down the hallway.   At one point there was no way out and they had to seek refuge in one of the offices.   </p><p>Suddenly and without warning, the power went out.   Ami choked out a silent scream.   Joyce wrapped her arm around her trying to calm the girl.  She began rubbing her hand over Ami’s back and shoulders.  Joyce was like Ami’s third mom, besides her Aunt Claudia.   Ami’s real mother just wasn’t around anymore.  </p><p>Ami slowly started to calm down to her surroundings.  Bob was just leaving to go and try to turn back on the power.  Mike was sitting next to her looking at her with wide eyes.  She tried to smile reassuringly at him.   “I’m okay kid, just bringing back old memories is all.”  </p><p>He hugged her fiercely.   He started whispering as she held him.  “I’m really scared.”</p><p>“It’s okay.  Bob is going to get the power on and we are all going to get the hell out of here.  I won’t leave you behind.”   </p><p>They sat around for a good 15 minutes before the power came back on.   Hopper picked up Will and started walking toward the door.   Doctor Owens decided to stay behind to help guide Bob out of the building using the cameras and then he would follow.  They ran as fast as they could getting to the main entrance after avoiding a few of the monsters on the way out.   Hopper got Will into the back of his truck, with Mike.  Ami turned back.  “Shit!  Where is Joyce?!”   Ami turned to run back into the building.   She could hear Mike screaming for her.   </p><p>Ami and busted back into the door just in time to see Bob get tackled by one of the monsters and start bleeding profusely from his wound.  She pushed past Joyce to grab onto his hand and pull him away from it.  Ami tried to land a kick to the smaller Demogorgon but when she made contact, the monster reared back swiping at her with it’s talon like claws.   She felt the burning pain as it ripped into her ankle and back of her calf.  Despite the pain she continued to try and kick at the monster.  </p><p>Hopper shoved Joyce out of the way, firing at the monster trying to stop them before it was too late.   Ami was able to stumble away, her ankle and calf were raw and bloody.  Two more of them came flying out the door and started ripping into his chest harder.   Ami turned to Joyce, stumbling now even harder, both with tears in their eyes.   “JOYCE WE HAVE TO GO NOW.”  She started pulling her arm as she was openly screaming and sobbing for Bob.   </p><p>They got outside just in time for Jonathan to pull up in his car.  Ami threw Joyce into the car and put herself in the back seat next to her.   Jonathan and Nancy who was in the passenger seat both turned around with concern on their faces.   Ami could only scream at him.  “Just drive!  We’ll explain on the way!” Ami saw Hopper stop so that Dustin Steve and Max could hop in his trunk and they were all on the way.   Ami was glad to see him, but what the hell was he doing here!</p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Joyce couldn't even speak right now because she was so despondent, so Ami took the reins and started to explain what was going on.  She hissed in pain as she tried to tie an extra scarf that belonged to her that Jonathan had in his car on her leg. </p><p>Ami explained about Will with the seizure on the football field, then the pictures.  She told him about how Will could feel Hopper was in trouble, next she explained the brain teaser with Bob, and when Ami said his name Joyce sobbed a little harder.  Ami gave her a one armed hug but moved on.  She explained Will’s seizure near the hole Hopper was in and how they all got whisked to the lab.   She told him about Will being a double spy and how the shadow monster used him to send his Demogorgon’s after them.   When Ami finally got to explaining about Bob, she also had tears streaming down her face.   It was like this was one big surreal nightmare.   </p><p>Nancy had turned around during Ami’s talking and was looking at both of them with extreme sadness.  She reached back and patted Joyce on the leg and grabbed Ami’s hand for strength. </p><p>Nancy then started explaining about what her and Jonathan had been doing.  About how they had been at the lab just before all this stuff had happened.   How they taped Owen’s confession on Barb’s death.  Her and Jonathan had gone to Murry’s house in Illinois to give him the information.  She finished with saying that the lab was going to be exposed now.   </p><p>Jonathan at the end of her talking reached over and took Nancy’s hand as he continued to race toward his house.  He rubbed his thumb along her fingers.  Ami smirked to herself.  Poor lovesick Jonathan Byers finally got his girl.  She hoped they lived through this so they could be happy.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 7: Remember that time Billy tried to kill Steve?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>That infamous night, where Billy almost killed Steve.  Ami tries to interfere.  Chaos ensues.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any similarities between my work and anyone else's work is purely a coincidence. I don't own any of these characters or any of the plot points taken from Stranger Things. This is all for fun. As always kudos and comments are the best thing to a person.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 7: Remember that time Billy tried to kill Steve?</p><p>When everyone finally arrived at the Byers house it was chaos.  All of the groups telling their own part of the story to each other.   When everyone was done it got eerily quiet. Everyone kind of went their different ways to just sit around and wait for Hopper’s reinforcements.  </p><p>Dustin came over to sit next to Ami on the couch.   Her foot was elevated on the coffee table, as Joyce was looking for her first aid kit and some supplies to manage her injury.   As time went on the swelling had gotten worse and the wound was oozing blood steadily from the ankle portion of it.   The cut on her calf didn’t appear to be as deep but her ankle would probably need stitches.  It was throbbing painfully without even moving.  Ami had been going on pure adrenaline since the lab.   </p><p>Ami was quite angry at Dustin.   How could he let one of those things into their house?  It ate Mews for goodness sake!   She was truly glad he was okay, but so angry that he kept this from her and put her whole family in danger keeping one of those things in the house.   Dustin looked down at Ami’s ankle and leg, the blood having gone through her pant leg staining it red.</p><p>The others were covering up the entire shed outside, so they could try and interrogate Will and see if he was still in there somewhere beyond the shadow monster.   Joyce came out of the bathroom with the first aid kit.   She began helping Ami and Dustin roll up Ami’s pant leg, when they realized her jeans were too tight, so they had to cut them off at the knee.   </p><p>Ami tried to lighten the tension in the room by making jokes.  “Stupid monster from a stupid other dimension making me mess up my favorite pair of jeans.”  <br/>Dustin laughed quietly and held up the bowl of warm water with a washcloth for Joyce to clean off her wounds.   The cut up the back of her calf was shallow, but still painful.  It had stopped bleeding at this point, but looked raw and angry.  Joyce cleaned that quickly, and rubbed in some antibiotic ointment.  She placed some gauze she had over it, and taped it in place. </p><p>The ankle was another story.   The blood was still streaming steadily from the wound, and was much deeper.   The monster’s claw had pierced her deep, almost to the bone.  She would need stitches, and there was no way she could walk on it without injuring herself more right now.  Joyce cleaned her ankle as best as she should and tied a bandana over it to stop the bleeding for now.  Ami hissed in pain as the bandana closed tightly around her wound.  Ami could feel it throbbing.  </p><p>She finally spoke up at Ami.  “Sweetie, once this is over you need to get to a hospital.  I’m sure you will need stitches, but this is the best we can do for right now.”  Joyce reached out a bottle and handed Ami two pills.  “These are all we have in the house in terms of pain relief, so hopefully they help a little bit.”  </p><p>Ami took them gratefully and swallowed them down.   She was glad for whatever Joyce could provide.   She finally looked at Dustin who was still staring at her ankle with a despondent look on his face.   “Dustin.  Look at me.  I’m not mad, just really really disappointed.  You had no idea what this thing was and you brought it home to live in our house!   You know what that thing did to me last year.  You know I still have to go to the city every 2 weeks for rehab. I know you didn't know what it was, but seriously!  You can’t bring things of unknown origin into the house!  He ate mews!  Your mom is going to flip a lid.”   </p><p>Dustin was then openly crying, sniffling as he answered occasionally wiping his eyes.   “I know okay, and I’m sorry.  I know I messed up.  I didn’t think he would hurt anyone.  I just thought I had discovered something new and wanted to research it. I kind of sent mom on a wild goose chase to find mews out by Loch Nora, and I haven’t been home since.   I buried mews in the backyard.”  </p><p>Ami’s eyes bugged out of her head.  “You buried him in the backyard!?  You realize she is going to keep looking for that cat.  We are going to have to think of something to tell her whenever we get out of this mess. We might as well make it lies all around since we can’t actually tell her where we’ve been or what actually happened to my leg.”   She gestured down toward the offending limb.  </p><p>Hopper came into the house then. “I need some paper, anyone have any paper?”  Dustin rushed up to hand him a sheet.    He started writing down a series of dots and dashes.    </p><p>Steve approached the table.  “What is that?” he asked.  </p><p>The kids replied all at once.  “Morse Code”   </p><p>Hopper smiled at them.  “He’s still in there.  He’s talking to us.”  </p><p>The next hour is filled with single letters coming through the walkie from Hopper in the shed.   The kids, Steve, Nancy and Ami crowded around the table to watch the letters come through.  Ami was able to hobble over to a chair at the table with some help.  Mike, Joyce, and Jonathan took turns telling stories to Will and trying to get him to come through to give over a message to us to try and help.   At the end of the hour the notepad read “Close Gate.”   </p><p>Ami looked up.  “How the hell are we supposed to close the gate?  Hopper said that thing is huge?  The government couldn't’ even figure it out.”   <br/>Just then the phone on the wall started ringing. At that moment, everything went totally chaotic.   Everyone from the shed ran in, and explained that Will had heard the sound and was sending the monsters there.   Everyone started quickly arming themselves for a fight.  Ami leaned heavily on the table, but she had a golf club from somewhere raised into the air ready to fight despite her terror.   </p><p>The dead Demodog, as Dustin named it, was suddenly on the floor.  It had flown through the window with an unseen force.   Everyone stared at the door, weapon in hand. The lock on the door slid up as if by a magnet, opened, and in walked Eleven. Everyone got extremely quiet, all eyes on her, as Mike lowered his weapon and walked over to her, wrapping her in a huge hug.  Ami smiled.  She knew Eleven had to be out there somewhere.  She was so happy to see her again.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>After everyone greeted Eleven with hugs and well wishes they decided on their own missions to figure out to get this night over with.   Eleven had the power to close the gate, so her and Hopper had left to go to the lab.   Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan took Will out to the cabin to try and get this thing out of her child.   <br/>Ami was back with the kids and Steve.  She wanted to go with Joyce and Jonathan, but with her leg they made her stay behind. They were all sitting around just discussing everything that happened.   </p><p>Dustin was forcing Steve to put the dead Demodog into the newly cleaned out refrigerator.  It was grotesque with its flower mouth hanging open.  Ami couldn't stop staring at it, imagining how those teeth felt when it chomped onto her upper back and shoulder.  She zoned out for a few minutes while sitting at that table lost in her memories.  </p><p>While Ami was stuck in her thoughts, the kids continued to debate a strategy with Steve.   They wanted to go into the hole in the ground that Hopper was trapped in, and try to distract the Demodogs so El and Hopper had enough time to get to the gate.  She was vaguely paying attention until she heard the unmistakable sound of Billy’s revving engine and loud music.   </p><p>Max’s eyes got huge and bulging from her skull.  “It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us!“<br/>Steve got up and went to the window.   Ami tried to follow him, but he pushed her back onto the couch.  “No way Henderson.  He’s got some weird infatuation with you and I’m not letting you go out there on that leg.  I’ll go get rid of him.  Everyone else stay here and stay quiet.”  </p><p>Steve walked out.   Ami and the kids tried to listen to the conversation they were having with little success.   It’s obvious that Billy was looking for Max.   The kids slowly crept over to the window to try and see what was going on outside.   </p><p>Ami scolded them, whispering to them sternly.  “Seriously guys!  Do you want them to see you?”   </p><p>The kids at that moment fell down below the window, Dustin speaking first.  “Oh shit!  He definitely saw us.  Oh shit oh shit!”   </p><p>The kids got up and ran into the kitchen area as the door burst open and Billy came swaggering in.  He looked over and saw Ami on the couch.  She was trying to get up to go over and try and protect the kids with little success.  “Of course you're here too Henderson.  Is this why you don’t give me a chance?  You're too busy playing whatever sick game this is with Harrington?”</p><p>Ami finally succeeded in standing but could barely put pressure on her leg.  “Billy you have no idea what is going on here and you really don’t want to.  You need to get the hell out of her now!”  </p><p>He took his focus off the kids and came toward her.  He stood so close he was almost nose to nose against her face.   “Or what Henderson?  What are you going to do to me?  I bet you all got nothing.  Now stay out of my way while I finish my business.”  He shoved off of her forcing her to the ground causing Amelia to yelp in pain.  Her ankle twisted painfully, causing another jolt of pain.  She could feel the wound on the back of her calf reopen.  </p><p>Billy began charging at the kids.   “Lucas Sinclair...what a surprise. I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max. You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me. I break things.” He yanked Lucas up from the floor and slammed him into the nearby wall.   </p><p>Lucas responded indignantly, squirming trying to get out of Billy’s grip. “Get off of me, you…”</p><p>Billy pushed in closer to his face before responding.  “Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will. You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?”<br/>Lucas continued to struggle but replied with no fear in his voice.  “I said get off me!”  He reared his leg bag and kicked Billy square in the groin.  Lucas dropped to the floor and scattered away with the kids.  </p><p>Billy bent over groaning in pain but recovered quickly to fight back.  “So dead, Sinclair! You're dead.”</p><p>Ami was so focused on the incident with Lucas she didn’t even see Steve finally recover from whatever happened outside and come in.  He spun Billy around to him.  “No. You are.”  He put his fist back and slammed it into Billy’s face.  The kids instantly cheered, encouraging Steve in this battle.  Ami was struggling to get back up to help try and stop this from happening.   </p><p>Billy came back up cackling like a maniac, wiping the now dripping blood from his nose.  “Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about.”  </p><p>The two started exchanging blows.  Steve looked determined while Billy looked gleeful.   Ami continued to try and stand with little success.  She wasn’t sure how she could stop this but she had to try.   </p><p>Steve was actually on the winning end of the fight for a few seconds, until Billy reached in Joyce’s sink and smashed a plate over Steve’s head.   Steve toppled like a ton of bricks.  Billy got on top of him, and started obliterating his face.  Ami thought for a minute that Billy was going to kill Steve.   </p><p>Ami started crawling toward the pair, it was the only way she could move.   When Billy cocked back one of his fists, Ami grabbed it.   He didn’t even turn around, just shot his elbow backwards, smashing her in the corner of her eye.   She went down hard, and saw stars.   Max decided it was time for her to step in. She picked up the needle with the medication for Will, and jabbed it Straight into Billy’s neck.   </p><p>He stopped what he was doing, standing up and turning around to look at Max with a murderous expression on her face. He reached up and pulled the needle from his neck looking at it with newly heavy eyes.   “The hell is this? You little shit, what did you do? What did you do?”  He collapsed down onto the ground on his back staring up at her.  </p><p>Max went over and picked up Steve’s trusty nail bat. She held it up threateningly toward Billy.  “From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone. Do you understand?”</p><p>Billy scoffed at her, and mumbled a weak response.  “Screw you.”</p><p>She twisted her face in anger, bringing the nail bat down between his spread legs.  He lifted his face up and looked down at it with actual fear in his face.  “Say you understand! Say it! Say it!”</p><p>He muttered a response before finally going unconscious from the medication. “I understand.”  </p><p>She threw the nail bat down on the ground and rushed over to Ami with Dustin.  The other boys rushed over to Steve.  Ami was a little dazed, but still conscious.  She had the beginning of a shiner under her eye.  For now they were all okay.  Hopefully they could make it through the rest of the night.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 8: The Aftermath</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ami is left behind with an unconscious Billy while the kids and Steve fight the Demodogs.   Billy wakes up with lots of questions.  How will Ami deal?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any similarities between my work and anyone else's work is purely a coincidence. I don't own any of these characters or any of the plot points taken from Stranger Things. This is all for fun. As always kudos and comments are the best thing to a person.</p><p>This is the point where we go away from Cannon.  New things coming your way.  Thanks everyone!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 8: The Aftermath</p><p>Ami was still on the ground, her leg bleeding through the bandages onto the floor of the Byers house.  The kids were rushing around for the first aid kit.  They pulled Steve over so he was right next to her on the floor.  He looked terrible.  His face was a mess, bloody and already bruising.  The kids set to fixing them up.  </p><p>Max and Dustin pulled the blood soaked pads off her wound. Dustin started to look a little green around the gills.  “Ami I’m sorry if I pass out or throw up on you.”  </p><p>Max rolled her eyes.  “Jesus Dustin, it’s just blood.  Go get me some warm water in a bowl with a washcloth.  We have to clean this then bandage it.”  He scurried off.  Max looked over at Ami.  “Boys are such wimps.”   They both laughed softly.  </p><p>Ami looked over and saw the other boys putting bandages on Steve’s most severe cuts.   They actually weren’t doing a terrible job.  Dustin returned with the bowl and they set to work quickly.  They got the blood cleaned up, and it looked like it was slowly stopping.  They put on clean bandages, and tied a new cloth around the wound on her ankle.  Ami was trying not to hiss in pain, but at this point her earlier medication had worn off, and she was exhausted.  </p><p>Mike came over to Ami.  “Do you think you can walk?  We still want to go and try and stop the Mind Flayer by distracting the Demodogs in the tunnels.”  </p><p>Ami tried to get to her feet only to fall back down.  “No, I definitely can’t.   You shouldn't go either.  How are you going to get there?  The two people who can drive are out of commission?”  </p><p>Max chimed in.  “I know how to drive Billy’s car.  He taught me in a parking lot back in California, before he turned into a huge dick.” </p><p>Ami sighed.  “I don’t like this but I literally am not able to stop you right now, and they need help to get safely to the gate.  You guys should take Steve with you though.  You can’t leave him here with Billy or when they both wake up there will be problems.  I’ll stay behind for when he wakes up.   Are you sure you guys want to do this?”</p><p>Dustin responded.  “Yes, we have to help our party member who is in distress.  We will make sure Steve goes down with us.  We will wake him up in the car.”  He hugged Ami fiercely.  “I love you.”  </p><p>She squeezed him back.  “I love you.  All of you be careful.  Leave me a walkie and tell me how it goes.  I want updates.” </p><p>The boys gathered up Steve and brought him out to the car.  It was an amusing sight to behold.  His unconscious body was dead weight, and it took all 3 boys to maneuver him outside and into the car.  Max had it started and was ready to zoom off to where they had to go. Dustin rushed back inside for another quick hug and they were off.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Ami sat on the floor staring at the motionless body of Billy Hargrove for about 30 minutes.  She alternately checked on the kids through the Walkie they left her, and they had just gotten to the hole in the ground that Hopper went through.   Steve was awake at that point, and Dustin told her he was going down with them.   Ami was a nervous wreck not being there to protect them herself.  She always made sure the kids were safe.  Now it was in Steve’s hands.  </p><p>Ami was grateful that Hargrove was unconscious.  She knew he would wake fairly soon.  Billy had been dosed with whatever medicine was meant for Will, so the dose was significantly smaller than what would keep Billy knocked out for a long time. Ami was planning on ripping him a new one for his behavior that night with Steve, but especially toward Lucas.</p><p>After an additional 10 minutes, Billy’s leg started to twitch on the ground, followed by a long groan.  Ami was still immobile from her wound so she looked for the closest thing to her to throw. Finding nothing but a few magazines on the side of the couch, she whipped one at his head.  He let out another groan, this time bringing a hand to his face to move the offending magazine out of the way.  </p><p>Ami was tired, sore, pissed off, and really angry.  She did not have time to deal with Hargrove right now.  She began shouting at him. “Hargrove, wake the hell up!  You need to get out of here now!”</p><p>He rolled on his side, now facing Ami.  His eyes were still unfocused and his speech was slightly slurred.  “It wasn’t a dream, you really are here in this crack den. What the fuck is going on here.?"</p><p>“You don’t get to ask me any questions.  Not after you come in here on some power trip, threaten a kid I love, and then try to almost kill my kind of friend Steve.  You get to wake up, and walk home and never mention any of this shit again.”  </p><p>Billy let out one of his manic laughs before responding. “I wasn’t going to hurt Sinclair.  He just needs to stay away from Max.  My dad won’t be happy if he finds out they are hanging out together.  Harrington I did mean to hurt, but he threw the first punch...” </p><p>Ami cut him off.  “I don’t give a shit about what your dad says or about if Steve was right or wrong for punching you first.  Get the hell out of here.   You could have killed him before Max shot you up with that stuff.  I couldn’t even stop you!  Do you remember elbowing me in the eye?”  She gestured to her face which now had the beginnings of a bruise under her one eye.  </p><p>Billy at least looked a little bashful at that.  “That was you?  I thought it was one of the kids.”  </p><p>“THAT DOESN’T MAKE IT ANY BETTER YOU ASS!” Ami screeched back at him.  She tried to reposition herself on the floor to get more comfortable, but it jerked her leg in the wrong direction and she winced in pain.  </p><p>Billy looked down at her leg.  “What the hell did you do to that leg?  Shit Ami that looks really bad.  Why did they leave you here?  Seriously what the hell is going on here?”  </p><p>Ami looked over at him.  “Listen, there is so much going on here.  Things you would never believe.  I am waiting for the kids to get back, then hopefully I’ll be going to the hospital to get this taken care of.”  </p><p>Billy was now trying to get to his feet.  “Why do the squirts have my car now?  I’m going to kill Maxine if she’s the one driving.  I only showed her how it worked back in California because she drove me nuts about learning.”  </p><p>Ami looked up at Billy, shrugging her shoulders.  “Why do you care?  You’ll get it back and it will be fine.  You never have to worry about tonight again?  Just go home and forget you saw anything.  Max will be home once this is all over.”  </p><p>Billy sighed.  “Yeah, I’m afraid I can’t do that.  My old man will murder me if I come home without that kid.  He’s probably going to murder me anyway because I’m not back yet. So let me help you or something until they get back from wherever they went.  I owe you for getting you in the eye after all.”  </p><p>“I think I’d rather take it out by kicking you in the balls once my leg feels better.”  </p><p>Billy laughed again, but this time more friendly.  “See, I knew I was right about you.  Spitfire afterall.”  He started walking toward the refrigerator in the kitchen.  “Let me at least get you some ice or something.”  </p><p>Ami’s eyes got huge and her heart instantly started racing.  She knew what was in that refrigerator.  “No Billy, you don’t have to do that…” </p><p>Before she could finish her statement Billy had opened the door.  The Demodog that was rolled up in a blanket and jammed in the refrigerator came sprawling out onto the floor.  It’s grotesque flower mouth with the razor sharp teeth flopped open, lifeless against the tile.  Ami looked from the lifeless monster’s form up to Billy’s wide eyes and gaping mouth.   </p><p>He said nothing as he closed the refrigerator, slowly backed away, and sat next to Ami against the wall on the floor, the whole time his eyes on the sightless monster on the floor.  He turned his eyes from the Demodog onto Ami’s face.  </p><p>She opened her mouth to speak, closed it once, and opened it again.  “Well I guess you have two options now.  Option one, you can leave, forget you ever saw that thing and everything else tonight, just walk home and ignore this all.  Option two, you can sit here and let me explain everything that’s been happening these past two years while we wait for everyone to come back, but if you pick this option you have to keep this all a secret or your life can be in serious danger.”  </p><p>Billy watched her with owl-like eyes as she counted the options down on her fingers.  He swallowed thickly.  “You really think I could leave here after seeing whatever the fuck that thing is?  What the hell is going on here? Is that what attacked you?  Is Max involved?”  </p><p>Ami held her hand up and stopped his questioning.  “I will answer whatever questions you have, but let me explain whatever I can about all this craziness.” <br/>“Okay.  I wish I had some booze for this.  Jesus Christ.”  </p><p>“We don’t need it.  Just listen and try to hang on.”  She grasped his hand in hers to try and ground the obviously panicking boy.  “Last year, Will Byers went missing.  He is Jonathan’s little brother.   We all thought he was lost in the woods, but he was lost somewhere else.”  </p><p>Billy’s curiosity got the better of him, having him interrupt Ami.  “Somewhere else?  What does that mean?” </p><p>Ami looked him in the eye, biting her lip.  “Do you believe in alternate dimensions?” </p><p>Billy pointed over at the monster on the floor.  “After seeing that I’ll pretty much believe in whatever you tell me.”  </p><p>She sighed and began a quick summary of the last two years.  “Okay, here is the gist.  There was a gate, it opened in a lab right at the edge of town.  There were experiments there, one was a girl who has amazing powers.  She has a connection to this place, and accidentally brought the wall between the realities to the surface.  The monster was a more grown up form of that thing, and it took Will and more people around town like Nancy’s friend Barb.  We all got involved trying to stop the monster, and we all thought it was over when we got Will back safe, but things started happening again.  Right now the very special girl is trying to close the gate, Mrs. Byers is trying to save Will again because he got possessed by something from that dimension, and the kids are trying to distract the monsters with Steve so that Chief Hopper and this girl can close the gate.”  </p><p>Before Billy could respond, the walkie burst to life.  Dustin’s crackly voice came through.  Ami dropped Billy’s hand and reached for it.  “Dustin!  I can’t hear you.  Are you guys okay? Over!”</p><p>Dustin’s voice came in a little clearer.  “Ami! I had to save everyone from Dart, but we are okay.  We think El must be at the gate, the Demodogs all just ran off toward the lab.”  </p><p>All the lights in the house suddenly surged, the brightness intensifying and going dull after a few minutes.  Ami knew it had to be El.  She was using an extreme amount of power to get the gate closed.  Ami just hoped it worked.  </p><p>Ami spoke back into the walkie.  “Dustin just get back here as soon as possible.  Billy is awake, but he saw the Demodog you put in the fridge, you all need to explain stuff to him, and I need to get to the hospital.”  </p><p>This time Steve’s voice came through the walkie.  “He didn’t hurt you when he woke up did he?  I swear to God Ami…”</p><p>“It’s fine Steve.  Just get here with the car.”  </p><p>Ami turned to Billy.  He was looking at her, his face was definitely paler than she’d ever seen but he looked a little calmer.  “I am sorry you know, for elbowing you in the face.”  </p><p>“It’s not me you need to apologize to, but thanks for that.  Let’s wait for the kids to get here and they can explain everything and I can finally get my leg taken care of.” </p><p>It had been a crazy night, and now that Billy was in the know, Ami felt like things were only going to get stranger.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 9: To the hospital we go…</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Ami and crew all end up at the Hospital to be treated for their injuries. Billy is starting to show he isn't a total lost cause like everyone thinks he is.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any similarities between my work and anyone else's work is purely a coincidence. I don't own any of these characters or any of the plot points taken from Stranger Things. This is all for fun. As always kudos and comments are the best thing to a person.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Chapter 9: To the hospital we go…</p><p>Billy and Ami continued to sit on the floor and wait for the kids to come back.  They also heard more chatter on the radio about the gate being closed, and Will being safe. Joyce was bringing Will right to the hospital to get checked over.  Hopper was on his way back to Joyce’s with an injured Doctor Owens, to help drive the kids and Ami over to the hospital since they didn’t have Steve’s car and Billy’s would be too small for everyone at once.  </p><p>Billy looked over at Ami.  “So can I ask you a question?” </p><p>Ami chuckled.  “Only one?”  </p><p>He laughed lightly back.  “No, I guess it will be several.”  </p><p>“Sure, you might as well at this point.”  </p><p>He took a deep breath and released his question.  “How did you get involved in all this anyway?”  He gestured around the room.   </p><p>She smiled at him.  “This time or the first time?”  </p><p>He smiled back.  “Both I guess.”   </p><p>She let out a long breath before continuing.  “Well, last time, my cousin Dustin was one of the kids who found the girl with the powers out in the woods.  He is one of Will’s best friends, and they were looking for him.  I ended up involved because I was helping Jonathan with funeral arrangements when we thought Will was dead, but Nancy came to us with evidence of the monster.  I ended up helping the kids try and protect the girl, who we call El and got attacked in the process.  My shoulder is all fucked up from it.”  She gestured to her right shoulder while saying this.</p><p>Billy winced in sympathy and looked over at her shoulder as if he could see through her shirt to the scarred tissue below.  “That sounds like it was really painful.”  </p><p>Ami nodded her head while answering.  “Yeah, it’s still not too fun, and I’m sure I’ll add this ankle to my battle wounds, but it was worth it for the kids to be safe.   This time I got involved by coming here to check on Will.  He had what we thought was a seizure the other day after school, so I came here with Mike to check on him, and got pulled into all this craziness from there.  I’m glad it seems to be finally over.”  </p><p>Billy leaned his head against the wall looking up at the ceiling.  “Why do you live here with your Aunt and cousin?”</p><p>Ami bit her lip and looked over at Billy.  “Sorry Hargrove, we don’t know each other well enough for that story yet.”  </p><p>Before Billy could talk again, Steve and the kids came in through the front door.  Billy rose to his feet and walked toward Steve, who threw him his keys.  “There you go Hargrove.  Take your sister and get out of here.”  </p><p>Billy stepped closer to Steve before answering.  “Listen Harrington, some crazy shit happened tonight, things got out of hand, but I’m not leaving, until I get some answers about what the hell is going on around here.”  </p><p>Steve shoved Billy in the chest with two of his fingers.  “You are not welcome here, Amigo.  Get your sister, get in your car, and get the hell out of here.”  </p><p>Ami had enough of this macho bullshit.  “BOYS!  Enough!  While we wait for Hopper, just explain to him what is happening.  I’m in too much pain to listen to anymore of this shit. Everyone just sit down and talk while we wait for Hopper or next time I’m able to stand I’ll kick both your asses. Am I understood?”</p><p>They both nodded and sat down.  The kids gave Billy a synopsis of everything Upside down related while he asked them questions.  Lucas had wanted nothing to do with him, which was understandable, so he sat next to Ami with his head on her shoulder. Steve couldn’t stop glaring at Billy from his spot leaning against the wall.  He definitely needed to see a doctor too for his injuries.  </p><p>After about 10 minutes of the kids explaining as best they could to Billy about the Upside Down, Hopper came bursting in with El.  El ran over to Mike and wrapped him up in a hug. Hopper came in and walked over to Steve.   </p><p>He looked Steve up and down.  “What the hell happened to you Harrington?”</p><p>Steve scoffed, looking over at Billy.  “Me and Hargrove got into a disagreement. It’s over now, but unfortunately he saw the Demodogs, so now he’s involved.” </p><p>Hopper scowled, grabbing Steve’s jaw and turning his head side to side.  “Do you want to press charges on this ass Harrington?  I’ll drag him down to the station, upside down business or not.”  </p><p>Steve looked over at Ami, and she shrugged.   He looked back to Hopper.  “No Hop, it all just got out of hand.  If he touches me again I’ll take you up on that though.   I threw the first punch, so we both are kind of guilty.”  </p><p>Billy was looking over at Steve with wide eyes.   He couldn’t believe Harrington was letting him off the hook after nearly killing him.  He looked over at Ami, who mouthed “you’re lucky” at him.  Billy could only nod in response.</p><p>Hopper raised his voice higher.  “Okay, everyone, let’s split into the cars and get to the hospital.  Joyce is bringing Will there to get checked over.  Ami needs that leg looked at, and these two dipshits have to get looked over after their fight.  Plus I have Doc Owens in the truck.”  He turned toward Billy.  “Hargrove, you okay to drive that car?”</p><p>Billy nodded.  “Yeah, I’m okay.  I’ll take Ami, her little cousin and Max.”   </p><p>Steve immediately went to argue, but Hopper stopped him with a hand on his chest. Hopper nodded at Billy and gestured for everyone to grab their things and get a move on.  </p><p>Billy walked over to Ami and crouched down.  “Okay, how do you want to do this?  I’m sure you can’t put pressure on that.  Do you want me to help you limp to the car or what?” </p><p>Ami thought about this for a minute before she answered.  “I’m honestly not sure I could put any pressure on it.  By now it is so swollen and hurt that even moving it a fraction is burning so badly.”  </p><p>Billy nodded.  “Okay then princess, don’t hate me for this then.  I know you aren’t a damsel in distress but we don’t have any other options.”  He put his one muscular arm under her knees and the other behind her back under her armpits, lifting her easily from the floor into his arms.   Max and Dustin stood in the doorway looking at him.  Billy threw max the keys.  “Max, go open the passenger door for me to get Ami in, and you and her cousin get in the back so I can give her the room in the front.”  </p><p>The two kids turned to hurry and get the door open.   Ami was surprised how weightless she felt in his arms.  He wasn’t even straining carrying her, she knew he had to be extremely strong.  She wrapped her arm over his shoulders to help hold on.   Billy walked out of the house sideways, so her leg wouldn’t touch the door jam.  Again, she was surprised at how gentle he was being about her injury.   He placed her into the car as softly as he could, trying not to jostle her leg any more than necessary.  Ami realized that there really were layers to Billy Hargrove, and maybe she would get to see them after all.  </p><p>Hopper had the other kids in the bed of his truck, he started his car and started going out of the long driveway.  Billy pulled out behind him, following him down the long road into downtown Hawkins toward the hospital.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>It was uncomfortably quiet in the car for the first two minutes of the drive.  Ami turned her head to start conversation, but Billy had his jaw clenched, and looked like he didn’t want to talk.  She turned toward the two kids in the backseat.  “Are you both okay?  I didn’t get a chance to ask you if anyone got hurt down there in the hole?”  </p><p>Dustin leaned forward.  “Yeah, just a few cuts and bruises.  We are okay.  Steve was a badass and kept us safe.”  </p><p>Ami smiled.  “Good, I’m glad you guys took him with you. I’m glad the plan worked to give El and Hopper some extra time to get to the gate.”  </p><p>Billy turned his head toward Max.  “Shitbird, how did you get mixed up in this crap anyway?”  </p><p>She let out a huff of breath.  “It all kind of went down right after Halloween, and these guys are my friends.  So I had to help.  I actually am trying to enjoy our time in Hawkins, unlike you.”  </p><p>Billy turned his head back around to look straight at the road.  It looked like he was biting his cheek to keep from talking.   He took a deep breath, still looking straight ahead.  “I’m glad you didn't get hurt Max.”  His face was slowly turning pink.  Ami thought it must have taken a lot to get  him to say those words.</p><p>The backseat quiet, for a minute Ami didn’t think Max was going to respond.  Quietly Ami heard her say “Thanks jerk, I’m glad you aren’t dead either.”  </p><p>Before anyone else in the car could speak, the walkie that Dustin brought with him came to life with Hopper’s voice.  “Okay everyone, we have a cover story to stick to.  We are on channel with everyone else here.  Will was sleepwalking due to his high fever he had because of the Flu.  The kids went off on their own to look for him, they found him, but they were all lost.  The teenagers in the group went out to find the kids, when Ami got injured from a wild animal in the woods.   The kids and teens all had to come find me to get help and get everyone out of the woods.  Now we are all at the hospital. This is just a cover before the government from the lab comes in from Chicago to come up with their own cover story and take care of all the mess at the lab.   Everyone understand?”  </p><p>Everyone responded with an affirmative answer.  The rest of the ride was quiet, with the radio playing something softly in the background.  It was quite a contrast to how Ami usually saw Billy riding around in his car.  </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>Both cars pulled up outside the ER entrance.   Jonathan’s car was already in the parking lot meaning they were already here with Will.   Billy got out of his car and let Max and Dustin out behind him so they could join their friends.   He came over to Ami’s side of the car, moving to pick her up again.  </p><p>Ami held her hands up.  “Wait a second Hargrove!  You can just get me a wheelchair.  You don’t have to carry me around anymore!”  </p><p>Billy shook his head moving in again.  “I’m not letting you stand here, and sit back down into a chair, only to stand back up and try to get on a hospital bed.  Just let me carry you right in and into a bed.  That way you won’t strain your leg more than you have to.”  </p><p>Ami hated to admit it, but it did kind of make sense. “Okay, you win for now, but only because I’m delirious with pain.”  </p><p>He bent down and picked her up the same way he had at the house.  The kids held the door open for Billy to bring her in to be seen by a doctor.  A nurse came from behind reception right away.  “Come this way and we can put her on a gurney back here.  Your friends told us how badly she was injured when they got here.  We have one of our doctors on the way to examine the wound.”</p><p>Billy carried her toward the back behind reception followed by Dustin.  He placed her down on the gurney and helped her settle her leg down flat.  </p><p>Dustin kept glaring daggers at Billy until he left to go out to the waiting area with Max.  The nurse was calling all their parents, so she was sure Aunt Claudia was going to bust in there soon to be a mother hen.  </p><p>After about twenty minutes, Aunt Claudia came back into her exam room. She looked frantic, her hair a mess, and in dressed down wrinkled clothes.  Ami could tell she’d had a rough few days.   She ran over to the two kids and hugged them both tightly.  </p><p>“I just saw Jim Hopper out in the waiting room.  What were you both thinking going into the woods like that!? Especially with what happened with Will getting lost last year like that. That boy needs to be locked into his house. I swear to Jesus.”  She examined Dustin over visually, finding nothing wrong with him, then turned to Ami. “Oh dear! Look at your poor leg. You kept those kids safe but now you have more healing to do.  You are so selfless sometimes Ami, my sweet girl.” She leaned in and kissed Ami on the forehead.  </p><p>After the few days of terror, Ami finally allowed herself to relax and let out her fear and anxiety now that she was safe in Aunt Claudia’s arms.  Once she started crying, it got progressively worse until she was sobbing while holding onto her aunt tightly.  Aunt Claudia just pet her hair, and patted her back soothingly, shushing her and reassuring her that she was now safe.   </p><p>The doctor came in once Ami had calmed down some.  You could tell she had been crying, but she was breathing normally again and more relaxed.  He began to examine your leg.  “Well young lady that animal really did a number on you didn’t it?  The cut up the back of your calf won’t need stitches, but we will have to keep it clean and dry, I will have a nurse come in to clean and dress it. As for the cut on your ankle, we are probably going to have to go in tomorrow morning and repair it surgically.  It is almost down to the bone, so we will need to do some internal stitches, and I’d like to clean up some of this tissue damage to make it easier to heal.  You will be on crutches for a few weeks while things heal, but I feel like if we get this now and take care of it, you will make a full recovery.  The nurse will also dress this for now, but in the morning we will schedule the procedure.”  He smiled sweetly at Ami.  </p><p>Aunt Claudia gave the doctor a hug, surprising the man when his eyes went wide.   “Oh thank you so much doctor.”  </p><p>He patted her awkwardly on the back. “No problem ma'am.”  Dustin and Ami looked at each other and laughed.  Aunt Claudia was always a big ball of emotions.   </p><p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p><p>After they got Ami settled in her hospital room, Aunt Claudia and Dustin left for the night, promising to be back the next morning to see Ami before she went into Surgery at 9:00 AM.  She felt exhausted, and wired at the same time.  Anxious about the procedure, but relieved that mostly everyone made it out of this okay.  Her heart was breaking for Joyce over poor Bob.  That woman did not have any luck with men.  </p><p>Jonathan stopped by briefly before going home with Nancy just to check on her.  Apparently he and Nancy got proof from Dr. Owens about Barb’s death, and they did something to blow the lid off the cover up in her death.  Ami was glad that Barb was finally getting the justice she deserved.   </p><p>Ami had just decided to try and get some rest when there was a knock on the entranceway to her room.  She looked up to see the last person she expected at that moment, Billy Hargrove.  </p><p>“Hey Hargrove. What are you still doing here?” Ami asked. </p><p>He walked in and sat down in one of the chairs by her bedside, leaning forward with his hands on his knees.  “Susan and my dad just left with Max when your Aunt left with your cousin.  I didn’t really feel like going home and having my dad chew my ass out again for Max running off. He’s an asshole.” </p><p>Ami looked at him.  “Well I guess visiting me is the better option than an asshole dad.”  </p><p>He chuckled.  “No, I didn’t mean it like that.  I also wanted to check on you. What did the doctor say?”  </p><p>“Well the cut on my calf should heal over time with proper care and time.”  Ami sighed before continuing. “But the wound on my ankle is going to need surgery in the morning.  I’m kind of a nervous wreck about it.”  </p><p>Billy shook his head leaning forward so his hands were now on the side of the bed.  “No, don’t worry. I’ve had surgery on my leg before when I was a kid and I got spiked in baseball and it went deep. You’ll be on crutches and stuff but you’ll be okay.”  </p><p>“Easy for you to say tough guy. I’ve had enough injuries and hospitals over the last few years to last a lifetime.”  </p><p>He laughed quietly and nodded.  It grew silent between them for a few moments.  “I really am glad you are going to be okay. I really feel bad about what happened to your eye.”</p><p>She waved him off with a turn of her wrist. “Again, really not who you need to apologize to, but thanks again for saying it.”</p><p>He nodded again. “I get it Henderson.”  It got quiet again.  Billy chewed his lip holding back what he wanted to say.  Finally he let it out. “Do you think after this whole mess you’d be okay with us maybe being friends?”</p><p>She looked over at the obviously nervous boy.  She was so angry at him for so many things. However, she had seen another light to him with him being so kind to kind to her, and even showing some care for Max.  When she didn’t say anything he got up to just walk out.  “Wait!  I had to think for a minute. I think we can call what we have a tentative friendship. I withhold the power to veto this friendship if you are a jerk. Plus you have to apologize to the right people, and not just to me.”  </p><p>He smiled and sat back down.  “Okay, I’ll accept these terms. It might take a little time, but I will apologize to Harrington and the kids. I just want everyone to cool off for a few.”</p><p>Ami nodded in agreement. “Fine.”  She let out a huge yawn.  “How are you not tired? My body is ready to shut down now!”</p><p>He chuckled. “Probably the drug induced nap I had to take before. I’ll get out of your hair. Good Luck tomorrow.”  He started walking toward the door but turned in the doorway. “Is it okay if I come visit you?”  </p><p>She looked at him and smiled shyly.  “Sure Hargrove, I think I might like that.”  </p><p>He left and she was almost asleep instantly.  After the insane few days of events, Ami needed to crash and recover.</p>
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